Sam awoke. The loud pounding on his door that shook him awake continued to ring in his eardrums. Groaning, he extricated himself from the tangle of limbs that made his bedroll. His eyes snapped open as he looked around the hut.

His mind reeled at what had just happened, or had yet to happen.

‘Was it just a dream?’ he thought as he absentmindedly reached for his trousers, slowly putting them on. Ellie stirred next to him, and he looked down to find her blinking the sleep away as another series of rapid knocks slammed against the door.

“Sam!” shouted Kara through the door.

“Yeah, Kara!” he replied back, standing up as he tore his eyes away from Ellie. “Lemme guess, Dragon is circling the camp?”

“Aye, sir…” she trailed through the door in confusion as Sam slipped on his uniform top.

‘Ellie, do… do you remember?’ asked Sam over the psychological radio they shared as Zee worked her way from the den, peeking up at him. She was exactly as she had been his previous go around.

‘Ah, her gift!’ Ellie answered cryptically after she resurfaced from his memories, ‘Remember when I said this wasn’t my first time dying?’

‘Hell of a health insurance plan,’ Sam snorted, buckling his belt before slinging his rifle over his shoulder.

‘I wasn’t lying, was I? She replied with a malicious grin.

“Dragon?” asked Zee from below him.

“Yeah, big fucker,” Sam answered, turning to face the diminutive scribe.

Only to freeze when he found her kneeling in front of him, naked as the day she was born, right at the perfect height. Cheeks rapidly heating, Sam spun away from her, coughed once, and attempted to continue. Only to see Ellie also topless, leaning over her bag as she fetched a set of clean clothes.

Her chest hung enticingly, swaying slowly as she rummaged around her bag before leaning back with another white tank top. Her eyes flicked up to him, and her cheeks heated slightly as she clearly followed his eyes. Naturally, she straightened and placed her hands on her hips, giving him an intentionally lovely view.

Sam’s cheeks burned even hotter, and he spun to face the door.

‘Not a safe direction to look in this fucking place,’ he griped as he walked to the door and jerked it open, stepping out as Kara nearly jumped back at his sudden appearance. She flashed a glance inside, and her face instantly darkened.

“Something wrong, Warrant Officer?” Sam asked, getting a little fed up with Kara’s dirty looks whenever she saw Ellie in his room.

“No sir.” She growled with finality. Sam shrugged. If she was going to tell him, she’d get around to it eventually. At the moment, he had bigger problems to focus on, like the massive dragon floating lazily in the distance.

As the dragon dropped out of the sky, he turned without a word to the gate, leaving Kara momentarily in the dust.

“I just…” she trailed as she hurried to catch up to him. “I just don’t think it’s professional to gallivant around with your subordinates on the front lines. What happens when you’re caught with your pants down during an attack?”

Henfri jumped down the gate to meet them this time, walking quickly up to the pair as Kara straightened.

“He’s done nothing but sleep,” she stated bluntly as she came within earshot, waving a clawed hand dismissively at Kara, the other supporting her massive rifle on her shoulder.

“And how do you know that?” Kara shot back.

“Their mating scent is not on him,” replied the muscular Drake-kin nonchalantly, “Why? Are you jealous?”

“No!” Kara barked, rising to the bait, “I’m not, I just want a competent officer who isn’t busy inspecting their troops all day!”

Sam decided it would be best to let those two argue this one out, and climbed up the sandbag wall, waiting for the enemy Colonel to approach. This time he wasn’t going to wait for her to call out. The dragon landed as last time, with the Colonel and her Mage stepping off the creature and striding to the fortifications. When they were thirty meters out, Sam acted.

He vaulted over the wall, landing on the ground with a thud.

“Ah good, Lieut-“ the Colonel started, but was cut off as Sam trained his rifle and dumped seven rounds at her. The mage acted quicker, throwing up a barrier of solid air before her, the rounds stopping dead in their tracks.

Growling, Sam shifted, lining up the Mage, who was sneering at him like a bug on a windshield. Sam emptied the magazine of the rifle while strafing sideways. With a smooth motion, he pulled a new mag out and knocked his old one out of the weapon, replacing it quickly.

He reached around the rifle and pulled on the bolt briefly, the toggle slamming back into place as Sam kept firing, alternating between two-round bursts on the both of them. He paused, and fired a single round at the Dragon-rider, who was working to get the creature into the air. The rider tensed as the round clipped through his skull, and fell unceremoniously to the floor.

The dragon roared in anger, and flapped its wings powerfully as it leapt skyward, and Sam lined up the magician again, now only a few meters away. He felt the stunted recoil of the rifle locking back and cast it aside, drawing his pistol instead.

The Mage changed tactics too, rolling to the side with inhuman speed and throwing out a blade of pure air. Sam’s entire body went numb, and he tried to look down only to watch his body collapsing away from himself.

As his head rolled on the floor and he heard the roar of blood rushing from his brain, he watched the Mage snicker and stand up.

“Brave,” said the Colonel as he faded from reality, “But foolish. What a waste.”

* * *

Sam awoke. The loud pounding on his door that shook him awake continued to ring in his eardrums. Groaning, he extricated himself from the tangle of limbs that made his bedroll.

‘Third time’s the charm, huh?’ he thought as he rose to a seated position, grabbing his trousers.

“Got it, Kara!” he shouted through the door, “Big scary dragon, Darabadian Colonel, I’ll be out in a minute!”

The pounding stopped as he worked on his top and belt. Ellie was rising from the bed herself, and Sam beamed her a mental image of what had happened on the two previous wake-up calls.

‘Oh! Her g-‘ she started before he cut her off.

“Yes, her gift,” Sam interjected, slinging his rifle over his shoulder, “Gotta go fight a dragon, love you!”

His brain locked up as he accidentally stated the last part. His steps faltered and he stubbed the toe of his boot on the overturned desk, a small shriek of panic sounding as it jumped several inches forward.

“Shit, sorry Zee!” he yelled as he hurried out the door and directly into Kara, nearly tackling the dense woman to the ground. He grabbed her shoulders and righted her as he steadied himself as well. She looked through the open doorway and frowned deeply.

Sam sighed, realizing that he would need to deal with this now.

“I’m not sleeping with either of them,” he stated as he made tracks for the gate, “I don’t know why they’ve shacked up with me, I’m just here to run a platoon. Okay?”

“Have you told them that?” she asked, stumbling after him.

“I’ve fucking tried,” he groused, “Regardless of my actual feelings, the front lines of a war isn’t the place to pick up women.”

“Care to explain why both of them were half-naked then?” she asked with an edge to her voice.

“Ellie was changing into a clean uniform, and Zee,” he shrugged as he pondered the diminutive House-Goblin, “Well frankly I don’t get her. I asked her to be my scribe the other day, and when I turned around, she was halfway to buck-naked!”

“Let me guess,” Kara asked, now in lock-step with him, “She inferred that you wanted sex because of some old tribal law?”

“Got it in one,” he shrugged, “So I clarified that I wanted her for her writing talents, not that.”

“Well, I hate to bring bad news upon your house,” Kara sighed, “But now you’ve made it worse.”

“How so?” he asked, climbing the fortification to stand next to Henfri.

“She probably-“ she replied, grunting as she followed him up, “Thinks you want her as a prospective wife now. Did she mention some powerful house her ancestors married into?”

“Yeah, something about her grandpa being the Kaiser of Schatzstadt,” he answered, standing with his hands on his hips as he watched the dragon float lazily on the currents of mountain air. “Why?”

“She’s probably trying to convince you in a roundabout way that marrying her would be beneficial,” Kara snorted, pulling up a pair of binoculars to watch the dragon. “More than likely, it’s what her mother instructed her to do when she found a man she liked, in the hopes of securing a place with his family.”

“Fucking brilliant,” he grunted, not taking his eyes off the Dragon, now beginning its descent, “I don’t need another wife, I need artillery. And more men.”

“Are you sure?” Purred Henfri, resting her rifle on the sandbags.

“Not a word, Corporal,” Sam replied, pointing a finger at the flirtatious Drake-kin.

“Wait, you’re married?” asked a baffled Kara from his left.

“Was,” he grunted as the Dragon neared. “She died just over a year ago.”

A pang of sadness coiled its ugly fingers around his heart. He couldn’t let himself trail down that path of thought, especially with recent events. If he started thinking now, he’d have to consider the implications that he’d died twice in the last hour, which was not something he wanted to dwell on at the moment.

He shook his head at the memory of how it felt to be burned alive, and focused on the landing dragon. This time, he’d put the enemy Colonel off guard. He tried to remember her name for several seconds before his brain spun back up.

“Colonel Contressor! How nice of you to join us!” he shouted, extending his hands wide and putting on his best ‘you’re late for a meeting’ voice.

“I…” the woman trailed back, shock evident on her face for a scant second before her neutral expression returned, “It seems I am expected! Have we met?”

“I’d certainly remember if we did!” he flirted cryptically, deciding to take a different route this time.

“Well, then,” she stated slowly, clearly reassessing the walls of the camp and Sam himself, “Do you know why I’m here, then?”

“You’re going to give me the whole ‘Big Bad Colonel is here to destroy you, surrender now!’ speech, I’d imagine!” Sam teased a wide smile on his face.

“You dare!” shouted the enemy mage indignantly.

“Silence, Jez,” barked the Colonel. “The officers are speaking.”

“Yeah, Jez,” shouted Sam with a grin, pulling the enemy Mage’s ID packet from his chest pocket, “Don’t make me do you like the other one!”

Sam lazily tossed the identification at the Mage’s feet, who silently stared daggers at him while he stooped to pick up the packet. His eyes widened as he read through the dead magician’s papers. His derisive look turned to one of pure rage.

The Mage angrily passed the packet to the Colonel, who looked it over, licked her lips once, and handed it back to the sorcerer.

“Impressive work, Mr.?” she asked.

“Lieutenant Volkjel!” Sam corrected.

“Well, Lieutenant, I assume you understand my offer then?”

“Surrender or die?” asked Sam.

“Correct,”

“Nah, I don’t like those options,” shrugged Sam as Henfri chambered a round in her massive rifle, which made the Colonel glance uneasily in her direction before eying Sam again.

“How about a wager, then?” she asked with a wicked grin, passing a glance to her mage.

“I’m listening!” Sam responded, intrigued by her offer.

“A Mages’ duel!” offered the enemy officer.

“Why?” asked Sam, having absolutely no idea what the significance of such an offer was.

“I feel that tradition should guide us!” she answered, “As I’m sure you’ve prepared better than your sister Platoon, I believe we both would lose an uncomfortable amount of soldiers in an all out fight. So as a show of goodwill, I shall allow a Mages’ duel to occur, so that we may solve this with minimal bloodshed. It is not our soldiers fault that our nations struggle, after all.”

Sam looked at the Air-Mage, grinning smugly at Kara. He turned to Kara, who looked nervous, but also excited.

“Can you take him?” Sam asked quietly.

“I don’t know his element,” she shrugged, “But given that he’s attached to a Regimental Commander, I’d assume he’s at least a Journeyman, if not a Master.”

“Air mage,” Sam grunted. “They’re Republican Guard, Seventy-Sixth Regiment if I remember correctly.”

“Elite shock troops,” murmured Kara. “Well above their regular line infantry. Although Air is uniquely weak to earth magic. It’s a toss-up, I’d say seventy-thirty in his favor. How did you kno-”

“Best odds we’re gonna get,” Sam nodded, locking her eyes with his own as he interrupted her. “I’d rather not get strafed by a dragon again.”

He internally winced at his slip of the tongue while Kara squinted at him. Then she sighed, and ran a hand through her chestnut-brown hair.

“You’re probably right,” she sighed. “Even with the tunnel system, many won’t make it out in time.”

“So, can you win?” he asked, “Because I’m about to gamble the Platoon on you.”

“In… in theory?” she half-stated, half-asked.

“Fuck it,” he shrugged, turning to the Colonel. “If I win, what do I get?”

“To leave!” the Colonel smiled wickedly, “To leave unhindered and untouched by my soldiers, back to the rear, away from the fighting.”

“And if you win?”

“You and your entire Platoon surrender to me!” she smiled, licking her canines as she folded her arms imperiously behind her back.

“Not an equal gamble for me,” Sam admonished, “I’m holding this point either way, so what else you got?”

“What’s your offer, then?” the Colonel asked, splaying her arms wide.

“If you win, I surrender to you, and my men leave the pass. You get me, and all the intel in my head, yours at a glance,” Sam offered with a pleasant smile, poking his temple. “If I win, you leave the pass. You make no moves for a month, no scouts, no saboteurs, no fly-by’s on your dragon there. You just get to sit and wait in your camp.”

“Hmmm,” the officer thought, crossing an arm under her chest as she tapped her lips with a finger. “Doesn’t work for me, unfortunately.”

The silence stretched for several seconds as the Colonel pondered from where she stood, the enemy Mage stalking back and forth like a predator waiting for an opportunity to pounce.

“How about we meet in the middle?” the Colonel offered with a smile, “You, your mage, and your attaché’s all surrender to me, and your soldiers leave the valley, but all weapons and gear stay here. In return, if Chief Warrant Officer Jez is struck down by your Fire-Mage there, I leave you alone as you stated for a week from tomorrow morning.”

Sam thought it over. It was the best offer he was going to get from the Colonel, but he was decidedly uncomfortable with the ramifications of letting Ellie, Kara, Henfri, and Zee be taken by the opposing army. Then he realized something.

If he lost, he could just put a round through his skull and try again.

He winced at that line of thought, unknowing of how far his ‘gift’ actually went. He’d have to discuss it with Ellie later, but for now it was his best option.

“Deal.” he shrugged at the last second, vaulting the sandbag wall and landing with a thud on the ground. Kara followed his lead a second later, landing with a powerful impact. Sam passed a glance at the absurdly dense woman before snorting and standing up.

“What?” she asked, quirking a brow at his stare.

“Nothing,” he chuckled, “You’re just dense. Is that muscle natural, or do you have some fancy magic that you enhance it with?”

The stocky woman smiled and seemed to preen at his words, balling her hands into loose fists, and twisting her arms in front of herself.

“Natural,” she smiled, blushing slightly, “I’m by no means the strongest Dwarf, even in the camp, but thank you!”

Sam snorted as he walked to the enemy Colonel, who was staring at him with an appraising, if imperious, gaze. She was pretty, and in her early middle-age. Her icy blue eyes carved deep channels through his psyche as she seemed to mentally weigh his character.

She curled a lock of midnight-black hair behind a pointed ear and smirked at him.

“Tell me, honorable Lieutenant,” Contressor started, “Why such resistance? Most of your soldiers are conscripts, and no glory will be found in death. What makes you think that standing alone against a regiment of my beautiful republic’s finest soldiers will earn you anything?”

“Fighting a war on two fronts is bad enough,” shrugged Sam, “If I can stop it from becoming three, I will. Some of my soldiers had family in Sulesti, and more have friends, family, and homes in Gerra. They’re fighting for the only home they’ve ever known.”

“And the territory of Dukes and Duchesses, undeserving of their titles is worth their lives?” asked Valeria, stepping off to the side and bidding Sam to follow. “Unelected politicians are relics of the past, Sir Lieutenant, the future is the voice of the people.”

“Bold words from a slave-state,” sneered Kara, pulling off her uniform top, casting it aside in a fluid motion. Thick ropes of muscle sat on toned, broad shoulders, rippling at her every twitch and bend. Sam had to stop for several seconds to admire Kara in her tank top, her powerful arms and upper body on full display. His eyes traced the lines of muscle as she stretched one of her arms across her modest chest. “What difference is it when my people are forced to work your gem and metal mines in the frigid north?”

“A disingenuous argument, Mage,” snorted the officer, “They have food, water, and gainful employment! Can your bloodline say the same under Grand Ducal rule? Need I remind you, that your assassination of our Prime Minster-elect is what brought about this war?”

“We both know Konutian spies were responsible for that!” griped Kara, pointing at the officer, “Just because you ran a witch-trial and hung a Lenitian court official for the bombing-“

“Bah, the propaganda of a failing regime in its death-throes,” Valeria interrupted, waving a dismissive hand before turning to Sam. “Enough politics, shall we get started Lieutenant?

Sam flashed a glance to Kara, who nodded once before he turned back to the Colonel.

“We’re good if you are,”

“Very well,” nodded the colonel. “We begin in ten seconds.”

The officer began to count down steadily with a loud voice, clearly bidding the defenders to come to the walls and observe her assured victory.

“Eight,” she said.

“Kara." Sam got the Dwarf’s attention.

“Hm?”

“Five.”

“Bury him.”