The command center of Ashwick was a mess. The room was usually orderly, with people moving in and out to deliver reports. The mood was different today.
Mara stood with her back to the wall, her arms crossed over her chest plate. She watched the five people at the central table. They were Senior Knights, and right now, they weren't acting like it. They were losing their calm.
"We still have no signal from Drecht," Paladin Halloway said. "They must be dead. Too much time has passed since we last heard from them."
He was pacing back and forth inside the room.
Mara observed the group. They were going into panic, which was visible in the restless tapping of Halloway's fingers against the table.
Though they held the rank of senior officers in name, they had spent too much time stationed safely behind walls, accustomed only to issuing orders rather than facing combat directly.
