Xerxes left the Swordmasters behind, climbing down the ladder and heading across the camp toward Gandash’s tent. Along the way, he tried to come up with the right words to use. He decided that apologizing about the restaurant fight first would be best, and thus composed a few things to say.

However, upon arriving, he found that Gandash wasn’t alone. He stood hunched over more maps, accompanied by Arwia and one of the Unsighted officers. Xerxes’ prepared words fled him.

Gandash looked up. “Lieutenant?”

“Hey, Gandy, er, I mean… Captain.”

“Can I help you?”

“I was wondering if I could have a moment alone. I just wanted to talk about the plan for, uh, tomorrow.”

Gandash looked back down at the map. “Say what you want to say, Lieutenant.”

Xerxes glanced at Arwia. Being from Al-Ga, she had short hair, and was a Nasaru mage attached to a light infantry unit. But Jad was the First Lieutenant of the light infantry as well as a local, so why did Gandash have Arwia here? Was it because she was one of the ‘smart kids’ in the class?

“I just wanted to reiterate a suggestion from Jad that we send some people to that village to the west.”

“I already made my opinion clear,” Gandash said matter-of-factly.

“But Jad and Enusat are both from here. They know the local customs and slang. If you sent the two of them, they could—”

“No.”

Arwia looked up from the map, glancing first at Gandash and then Xerxes. “Captain, should I see myself out?”

“Don’t,” Gandash said. “There’s no need. I’m not sending Jad and Enusat off into the night in the hopes of digging up rumors.”

Xerxes was taken aback at being shut down in such a way. What was more, the quick rejection caused his jaw to tighten. “Not rumors. Intelligence. We need to know what the enemy—”

“No,” Gandash said, with more force this time. He looked up again from the map. “There’s a command structure here, Xerxes, and I’m the one who bears ultimate responsibility. I already made the decision. I’m not sending Jad and Enusat to that village. Enusat’s reputation is no secret. You think I don’t know what he was up to that night I ran into the two of you after curfew on campus? Plus, everybody knows that he went to brothels back in Gula Bazaar. That’s why those two want to go to Urmia. So I’ll repeat. No.”

Xerxes gritted his teeth. “Just because you’re pissed at me, Gandy, doesn't mean you should ignore good advice. Even if you don’t send Jad and Enusat, send someone.”

Gandash’s lips compressed. “I’m not ‘pissed,’ Lieutenant. The decision has nothing to do with you.”

“It has everything to do with me,” Xerxes shot back, his voice louder. “You’re punishing my friends because of our argument!”

“I’m not punishing them. It’s a decision based on the big picture. And I’ll remind you again, there’s a command structure here. I’m the one who calls the shots, and the answer is the same as before. NO!”

His final words were shouted, not with anger or emotion, but with an iron tone that Gandash had never used on Xerxes before.

“Fine.” Xerxes turned on his heel and walked away.

Outside of the tent, quite a few people were looking in his direction, making him wonder how loud the conversation had been. Feeling his neck turn hot, he forced himself not to stomp as he walked through the camp back toward his own tent. Along the way, he glanced to the side and noticed Katayoun looking in his direction, an odd expression on her face. The edges of her mouth were tight, and it looked like she was shaking her head.

Grimacing, Xerxes went to his tent and jumped inside. Sitting down on his bedroll with a huff, he put his hands on his knees and ground his teeth. After five or ten minutes passed, his temper cooled. And then he wanted to kick himself.

You knew going in that he wouldn’t say yes, he told himself. So why lose your temper over it?

The more he thought about it, the stupider it all seemed.

He needed to break the news to the Swordmasters.

Poking his head out of his tent, he didn’t see anyone looking at him, so he went out and prowled the camp.

He found Kashtiliash near his tent.

“Kash,” he said. “You seen Jad and Enusat?”

The bearded mage shrugged. “Not for a few minutes.”

“Any idea where they are?”

“Nope. We heard you got in a yelling match with Randy Gandy. After that… not sure where they went.”

“People are already talking about that?” Xerxes asked.

“It’s a small camp.”

“Right. Well, g’night.”

“Night.”

Xerxes made another round in the camp, making sure to steer clear of any possible conversations with anyone. He wasn’t in the mood for chatting. Jad and Enusat weren’t in their tents or anywhere else he thought to look. In fact, they weren’t anywhere.

Don’t tell me they heard about the yelling match and decided they should run off to that damn village without permission.

For the briefest moment, he considered reporting the matter to Gandash. No. It would earn him favor with Gandash, but could very well alienate the Swordmasters.

He found Katayoun at a campfire near her tent, but she was so engrossed in conversation with Kishar and Dasi that she didn’t notice him trying to catch her eye.

Feeling deflated by everything, he gave up, went back to his tent and tossed and turned for a few minutes before falling asleep.

“Xerk-man. Xerxes! Wake up!”

He cracked his eyes open and found Jad looming over him.

“What the—”

Jad clamped his hand onto Xerxes’ mouth and made a ‘shh’ sound.

Xerxes opened his eyes wider. The tent was dark, but the front flap was open, letting in some moonlight. There were dark blotches on Jad’s face, but Xerxes’ mind refused to deduce what they were.

“We need your help,” Jad whispered. “Get Katayoun!” He loosened his grip on Xerxes’ mouth and leaned back.

“What are you talking about?” Xerxes asked quietly, sitting up.

With a better view of Jad, he realized that the dark blotches on his friend were blood. And it wasn’t just on his face. He had blood all over him.

“Enusat’s hurt,” Jad said. “Bad.”

They did it, Xerxes thought. They snuck out of the camp.