We waited nearly half an hour before a staff sergeant left the CO's office. He didn't look happy and he kept his eyes forward as he left the main building. He also didn't shut the door.

“We'll just be a few more minutes.” Gillis said and stepped forward to shut the door.

“Do you think that was about stripping this garrison to reinforce the new one?” Gary asked.

“Either that, or the requested reinforcement from another brigade was denied.” Mage Henrietta said.

“How do you... no, you would be someone who knows.” Gary said. “The Colonel has been trying to get another high ranking mage sent here since Mage Lukas was lost.”

Mage Henrietta nodded. “No one is crazy enough to be sent here.”

“Why did you come here?” I asked.

“I told you. It was for my family. I gain actual battlefield experience and influence for my family.” Mage Henrietta said. “I didn't think I would be the next ranking mage and have to run it if Mage Lukas died... which no one expected for such an out of the way deployment.”

“If this gamble doesn't work...” Gary sighed. “Never mind. It's better to not think about the consequences of failure.”

I stayed quiet and didn't say anything, because there wasn't really any downside for me if we failed. The reverse was also true, because winning wouldn't give me any benefits or make my situation any better. My only real hope sat next to me and gripped my arm tightly.

After a few silent minutes, I whispered to her. “You're doing your best with your personnel and... no one can fault you or your decisions.”

Mage Henrietta turned her head to look into my eyes. “What were you going to say during that pause?”

“That you're doing much better than the Colonel, then I changed my mind because I didn't want to insult you by comparing you.”

Mage Henrietta had to cover her mouth to stop her laugh. The office door opened and Gillis waved for us to come in. The three of us did and Gillis shut the door behind us. Thankfully, they had chairs for us and I held in my sigh as we sat down and Gillis returned to the CO's side.

“Report.” The CO Sandra Rivers said without inflection, as if she was just going through the motions of a good CO.

Mage Henrietta went first, since she was a noble lady and a mage. She explained about the things she knew of and Gary went next. When it was my turn, Mage Henrietta's grip on my arm tightened. I glanced at her face and she nodded slightly. I nodded slightly back and told everything that happened from my own perspective, including the very last thing with the Colonel intentionally endangering reserved troops before they were properly trained for front line battlefield conditions.

“We just dropped off Diane's son.” Mage Henrietta added and told them his condition and what happened with Diane's reaction.

“Oh, no.” Gillis whispered. “David, I... I'm sure that when she calms down...”

I slowly shook my head. Mage Henrietta had been right and Diane had thrown me aside as soon as she had a reason to. I still had the dried tears on my cheeks as proof.

“The Colonel ordered us to check in with you to see if there's been any correspondence for her.” Mage Henrietta said, I assumed to try and divert attention away from my personal problems.

“There's been nothing at all for her.” The CO said, then she took off her hat and ran her fingers through her hair. “I really need to take a break from all of this. I'm a high ranking healer, for god's sake! I shouldn't be stuck behind a desk!”

Gillis glanced at her and made a motion with her hand to signal asking for permission.

Sandra nodded. “Go ahead, Gillis. I'm taking twenty minutes off and nothing you say can be officially heard by me.”

Gillis touched her cousin's shoulder affectionately and looked at us. “The Colonel might not have gotten any messages; but, I have.”

That got all of our attention.

“I can honestly say that everyone is completely ignoring her.” Gillis said. “My mother is close to the court and my father is high up in the military. Both of them say that her demands are ridiculous and insane, as are her claims that she's established a beachhead into the Eastern Empire.”

“Oh, no!” Mage Henrietta gasped.

“You understand.” Sandra said and sat back in her chair. “Not only are there no reinforcements coming, there's no plans for reinforcements to ever be sent.”

“We're screwed.” Gary said. “We're scraping the bottom of the barrel for people as it is. How the hell are we going to survive if we can't get replacements for the men and women we've already lost?”

“Welcome to the new staff sergeant's nightmare.” Sandra said and waved at the door where the unhappy man had fled. “There's only so much that can be solved with temporary field promotions.”

“We're already patching holes in squads now.” Mage Henrietta said. “If we lose much more...”

“...we won't have an effective defense to stop the enemy.” Sandra said. “The Colonel would have called me up there already if I wasn't necessary for command here. For once, I'm glad that there's no one here that can replace me.”

“So am I.” Gillis said. “I meant to thank you a while ago for saving me.”

Sandra chuckled and then she sighed. “We're in such a mess that I don't know what we can do to get out of it.” She gave her cousin's hand a pat. “At least we'll go down together.”

_______________

You have a choice to make. It will alter your relationship with the people present to a significant degree. What will you do?

A) Stay silent. B) Leave. C) Encourage them. D) Yell. E) Run. F) Offer to help. G) Choose two.

We're all kind of stuck under the Colonel's influence with no real way to get out from it. I thought and read the options again. I know these people and they have all helped me when they didn't have to. They could have just let me suffer alone and they didn't. I looked at the two options that applied and chose them. I choose C and F.

_______________

“No, we aren't going down.” I said and pat Mage Henrietta's hand and stood up. “We've come this far and we've survived, even with all the crazy things going on.” I said and Mage Henrietta stood up to support me. “Let's take this as far as possible.”

“What do you mean?” Gillis asked.

“I assume you've sent the battle reports we've accumulated so far to your father and he didn't believe them.” I said and she nodded. “What would it take to convince him that we are actually in the Eastern Empire?”

“It's not like we can give him a first hand account. He would never come all the way out here to...” Gillis stopped talking. “Oh, my god! That's it!”

“What is it?” Sandra asked.

“We show him! We show him we've been in the Eastern Empire!” Gillis exclaimed.

“How do we do that?”

“It's simple! We send tribute from the newly gained territory!”

Sandra took in a sharp breath. “The Colonel will never go for it.”

“Yes, she will.” Mage Henrietta said and her brilliant eyes fell upon Sandra. “We just have to give her a valid candidate to govern it.”

“Wh-what? No, I... you can't really think...”

“You said it yourself. No one can replace you as the commander of this garrison... except than the entire garrison is about to be shifted to the new area.” Mage Henrietta said with a satisfied smile. “You can leave the staff sergeant here to mind the squad of soldiers that must be left behind to guard this place, while Gillis can be sent to the capital with some of the expensive items and gold that have been pilfered from the enemy.”

“M-me?” Gillis gasped.

“He's your father and you won't be denied entry or delayed.” Mage Henrietta said. “If we succeed...”

“...we could finally get the people and resources that have been denied.” Sandra said, her face thoughtful.

“I'll be creating as many kracken tubes as I can to maintain the defense of the bases we have in enemy territory.” I said. “I mean the Gulf Kingdom's new territory. No, Her Highness Lady Sandra Eileen Rivers' territory.”

Everyone had bright and happy faces at my proclimation.

“She... she won't...” Sandra looked at our faces and sighed. “Dammit, when do we leave?”

“Right now.” I said. “Gather your things and head to the boat. I need to stop at my old shop and get my things, too. We can arrange a few soldiers to go with Gillis and Mage Henrietta when we get back to the front.”

“Excuse me?” Mage Henrietta said, her voice stern. “I'm not...”

“She needs your expert boat handling and the speed you can achieve in it. The faster you can get her to the capital, the faster we can get all of this resolved.”

“But... but I wanted you to...”

“The Colonel would never agree to let me go to the capital.” I said. “You, however...”

Mage Henrietta sighed. “She'll be more than happy to see the back of my robes.”

“You're still going to be in danger. It's a long boat ride to the capital.” I said. “Don't push yourself and make sure you don't exhaust yourself if you're too far away from the shore.”

Mage Henrietta smiled sadly. “You almost sound like you care about my safety.”

I turned to face her and she looked into my eyes. “There's only one thing I can say to that.”

Mage Henrietta, as well as Gillis, Sandra, and Gary, waited anxiously for me to speak.

“Helena, I accept your offer.” I said and Mage Henrietta gasped. “Get me out of the army as soon as you can.”

Mage Henrietta looked shocked for a moment, then she smiled happily and gave me a quick kiss. “I'll do my best. You'll be out of this horrible mess by the end of the month. Both I and my family guarantee it.”

After that little revelation, Gillis and Sandra went to pack their things and to get supplies, Gary went to the maintenance building to get a few tools and things he would need to help me, and Mage Henrietta helped me to my old potions workshop to get the things I had left there.

I would be transferring them to my house in the marsh, where they would be relatively safe. Unlike leaving them in the middle of a practically abandoned garrison or near the front lines of a battlefield.

Mage Henrietta wasn't surprised to see me cutting open the bottom of my bed to get at my old pack. What did shock her was the chest full of gold crowns. “David, what...”

“I did a lot of hunting at the training grounds. Exotic beasts are worth a lot.” I said and opened my pack to take out a weight enchantment coin, then used a drop of number ten potion to attach it to the chest. I activated it and then emptied out the pack of my old clothing and things that I wasn't going to need anymore. I shoved the chest inside and put the pack on. It was a familiar feeling that I had missed and I left the empty army trunk there. I had given Diane the contents of animal parts long ago.

We left to go to the boat and I wasn't surprised to see a construction crew making the new road down to the dock and another putting up a quick fence of springy trees. Mage Henrietta walked on my side to support my walk, the side that just so happened to block my sight of Diane's house, and we made it to the dock. We didn't have to wait long for Gary to appear and he loaded a few things into the boat.

Twenty minutes later, Gillis appeared and wore her army uniform as she carried two canvas bags and Sandra was beside her and wore civilian clothing, namely a very stylish dress of the times. There were two guards behind her and they carried a trunk between them.

“You could have worn the uniform until we appeared at the base.” Mage Henrietta said.

“No, I'm making this trip as Lady Rivers, governess of a new territory, and not as CO Rivers.” Sandra said and climbed into the boat. The two guards put her trunk at the back and sat down with it. None of us asked why the guards were coming, since it was just assumed she needed protection wherever she went. I took us out into the waterway and Mage Henrietta gripped my arm as she leaned close.

“Thank you.” Mage Henrietta whispered to me and kissed my cheek. “Thank you so much.”

“You were right.” I whispered back. “I made the decision a while ago to leave the army and I just didn't want to admit it.”

“You were waiting to see what Diane would say when you told her.” Mage Henrietta said and I nodded. “Now you know.”

“I'm going to need your help when we make a stop in several specific areas to gather some special ingredients.” I said and it was her turn to nod.

“Yes, they are essential stops and you must do them to complete your mission for the Colonel.” Mage Henrietta agreed. “I'll do everything I can to help you, just as I promised.”

I nodded and increased the speed of the boat.