Chapter 13
Chapter thirteen
“What is this place, anyway?” Aimee folded her arms across her chest, fingers rubbing up and down against her sleeves. “And why do they want it?” Her mouth went taut before she added, “And who the hell are they?”
A group of men and women stood before the cave mouth and the massive boulder that sealed it, throwing a harsh shadow across the clearing.
She had recognized it instantly—the same place where she and Kazuma had been ambushed.
Closer now, with no quarrel simmering between them to cloud her mind, unease crept into her bones.
The stone face loomed silent, an empty, endless hole.
She swallowed, trying to ignore the creeping feeling crawling up her spine.
“You are here to defend, not ask questions.” Mira’s tone tried for harsh, but Aimee caught the worry shading the edges.
Gone was the familiar red tunic and plain trousers; in their place was fitted leather dyed a deep crimson, banded with bronze seams that caught the sunlight.
Plates shielded her chest and shoulders, supple enough to move with her body, but heavy enough to remind anyone she was ready for war.
The wind thinned as it crested the ridge, snapping dry across the mountain face. Noon light struck hard off the stone, painting the Watch in stark relief—warriors lined along the slope, their stance easy, their eyes not.
Aimee had seen them train before. She knew their precision, the way they moved like a single body.
She’d seen fire lick from their palms as naturally as breath, wielded with a fluency that proved it was in their blood.
And after tasting the Mistress’s power in the Heart, she could feel that same essence thrumming through these soldiers, as though each one carried an ember inside.
“I concede this place is secure.” Kazuma stepped closer, his shadow mingling with hers. “It could withstand a full-frontal assault from the strongest Havens.” His voice dropped lower as he glanced toward the slope behind them. “But the village is unprotected.”
The truth of it landed hard. He had said aloud what she hadn’t wanted to admit—what her own gut had whispered from the moment she saw the boulder.
“Our duty is absolute.” Mira didn’t glance their way. “Besides, they most likely haven’t found the village. This place was their priority, and you eliminated the previous assault before they could expand their search.”
Her palms brushed over the seams of her trousers, rubbing the cloth raw in a rhythm she couldn’t stop. She needed to know what the fuck was hidden behind that boulder. If it was tied to her Mission—even tangentially—ignorance could cost her everything.
A bright flare lit the horizon.
“Seishō. The enemy approaches.” One of the Watch shaded his eyes, scanning the distance where the light blinked again, rapid and insistent. His mouth thinned, skin leaching pale as he tracked the pattern. “At least five hundred strong. And the reek of Mana—and something fouler—precedes them.”
Mira absorbed the report in silence, her throat working as she licked her lips. She shut her eyes, inhaled through her nose, and released the breath. When her eyes opened again, they were hard as hammered steel.
“Five hundred shinobi.” She nodded once, scanning the horizon. “Very well. It will cost us. But we are prepared. Initiate the first round of traps.”
Beside her, Kazuma had gone utterly still.
Aimee trailed her fingers down his arm, seeking an answer in the rigid line of muscle beneath her touch. With their position fortified and the Watch’s elemental mastery, five hundred should have been manageable.
He turned, eyes finding hers. Worry flickered there, unguarded. Shinobi wield the elements, too. The thought landed. All of the elements. Not just fire. And Mana makes them stronger.
Aimee swallowed and stepped forward on impulse.
“You should let us join the front line,” she said. “We can help. You know we can. The Mistress—”
“Do not presume to interpret the will of the Mistress to me.” Mira cut her off.
“Your power is too unpredictable. Just as likely to burn us as the enemy.” She pivoted, her finger stabbing at Kazuma like a thrown spear.
“Especially with this one in the mix.” Her mouth closed, then opened.
“And he wields the very force that threatens us.”
Aimee felt the words land before she registered them, taking a step back as the world seemed to tilt around her.
“The only reason you both are not confined to your quarters right now is because the Mistress decreed you useful.” She scanned Aimee, whose boot tapped against the stone with a mind of its own. “You will remain where I can see you—a last line of defense.”
I should be out there. Fighting. That was her only wretched purpose.
Aimee grit her teeth, silencing her foot through sheer force of will.
“If we all fall…” Mira’s hand landed on her shoulder then, fingers rigid.
“If we all fall,” she continued, and now there was no mistaking the calculation behind her calm, “I know you will bring this entire mountain down to keep them out.” She paused.
“The Mistress…and I trust you to do that. Else the whole world falls.”
“What?” Aimee’s shoulders sagged, the rigid line of her body crumbling into slack disbelief.
“She knows your Mission. You are our shaved knuckle—our wild card.” The phrase landed: not flattering, not tender, but clear. “We are prepared for this assault today. But if the terrain changes and we fail, you will be here to finish it. Is that clear?”
Mira met her stare head-on as the mountain hummed around them and the Watch closed ranks. Aimee tasted iron on her tongue and, for the first time since she’d landed on this world, the buzz of the Pattern pulsed through her blood in anticipation rather than reprimand.
“Yes, Seishō.” She dipped her head as the gravity of the truth settled into her ribs.
This was why she was here.