Rain reached the northern yard a little before noon with his travel bag hanging from one shoulder and his sword at his left side. Captain Varen's group was already there.
There were six of them besides Varen, gathered near an open equipment shed beside the northern gate. Some were checking their packs while others were going through weapons and supplies laid across a long wooden table. They looked like a group that had done this enough times to know exactly what belonged to whom. Nobody needed to ask where the food went or who was carrying the extra rope. One man checked the straps on two shields while a woman beside him counted water containers, and another soldier was kneeling beside a supply crate with a sheet of paper resting across one knee.
Rain slowed as he approached. Kael had given him Captain Varen's name and the meeting place, but nothing that told him which of the seven strangers was actually Varen.
The decision was made for him when the man standing over the supply list looked up.
"Rain Ardent?"
Rain adjusted the strap on his shoulder. "Yeah. Captain Varen?"
"That's me. You're early, which already makes this easier." Varen folded the paper and tucked it beneath one arm before offering his hand. He looked somewhere in his thirties, with short dark hair and a sword carried across his back rather than at his hip. "Kael told me he gave you the short version of the assignment, so I'll explain the rest once we've finished here. Put your bag beside the others for now. We're not leaving until I know how you fit with everyone."
Rain shook his hand before looking toward the equipment shed. "You're testing me?"
A few members of the group had stopped what they were doing. They weren't hiding the fact that they were looking at him now.
Varen noticed them too. "I'm testing all of us. You've never fought with them, and they've never fought with you. I'd rather find out here that two people keep stepping into the same space than find out when a demon is standing in front of us."
"That makes sense."
Rain carried his bag toward the shed and placed it beside the others.
The man with the shields watched him straighten again. He was large enough that Rain noticed the size of his arms before anything else, though he didn't look particularly old. Late twenties, maybe. One shield was already strapped across his back while the other appeared to be a spare.
He glanced at Varen. "Can I ask something before we start?"
Varen nodded for him to continue.
The man rested the second shield against the table. "Why are we adding someone now? I know who the Cinders are, and I'm not saying he can't fight. I'm asking because we've been using the same positions for months. If Rain's only coming because there were two Higher sightings, I want to know where you expect him to fit before we start moving people around."
Rain looked toward Varen as well. It was a fair question.
Varen picked up the supply list again but didn't open it. "That's the reason we're doing this before we leave. The Higher sightings are part of it, but the bigger problem is that we've been stretched too thin whenever Hollis has to hold the center and Sera gets pulled away from him. Tavin can cover one side, but that leaves Nelle without anyone close if something gets around us. Rain gives us another fighter who can move between those spaces without needing one of you attached to him."
The man—Hollis, apparently—looked toward Rain again. "You've worked like that before?"
"Sometimes." Rain leaned one hand against the table rather than standing in the middle of everyone staring at him. "Most of my assignments are with the same seven people, so I already know what they're going to do without thinking much about it. I've worked with other units too, though. If you show me where everyone usually stays and what you expect me to cover, I can adjust. I'm not going to pretend I'll know all of you after ten minutes."
A woman who had been checking the water containers finished tightening one of the lids before setting it down. "How many Higher Demons have you actually fought?"
Rain thought about the question before answering. "Enough that I don't count every one anymore. Some were with the Cinders, some weren't. Yesterday we killed one on the eastern road."
The woman looked at Varen. "That's the one we heard about this morning?"
Varen nodded.
She returned her attention to Rain. "No serious injuries?"
"Nothing serious. It had Lesser Demons with it, so we dealt with those first and kept the Higher from getting everyone together again. After that, we had enough people around it that it couldn't focus on one of us for long."
Hollis crossed his arms. "Kael's report said you met it head-on at one point."
Rain looked at Varen.
Varen's expression didn't change.
"Does Kael send everything?"
"Apparently."
Rain sighed quietly before answering. "I wanted to know if I could take one hit without losing my position. Stephen was close enough to cover me, Elara was already moving toward it, and I wasn't planning to stand there if it turned out stronger than I expected. I held it, got a sore shoulder out of it, and Kael spent part of the report explaining why I shouldn't do it again."
The woman beside the water containers smiled a little. "Was he right?"
"Probably."
That got a few laughs, including one from Hollis.
Varen finally opened the list again. "Since everyone has decided to interrogate him before I can introduce anybody, we might as well fix that first. Hollis is the one with the shield. Sera is the one who just asked whether Kael was right."
Sera raised a hand.
Varen pointed toward a thin man checking the head of a spear near the shed. "Tavin. Nelle is our archer."
A woman sitting on the edge of the table looked up from a bundle of arrows and nodded toward Rain.
"Dain handles most of our treatment in the field," Varen continued, indicating an older man near the supply crates. "And the one eating our travel food before we've even left the capital is Corin."
The youngest member of the group froze with something halfway to his mouth.
Sera looked over. "Again?"
Corin lowered his hand. "It's one piece."
"You said that awhile ago."
Rain smiled as he looked between them. He had expected the introductions to be harder to remember, but attaching the names to what everyone was already doing helped. Hollis carried the shield. Tavin used the spear. Nelle had the bow. Dain's treatment bag sat beside the supplies. Corin had apparently been caught stealing his own unit's food.
That left Sera, who wore a straight sword at her side and a shorter blade behind her waist.
Varen finished checking the last crate before folding the paper again. "We're ready on supplies. Leave the bags here and bring your weapons into the yard. This isn't going to take long. I just need Rain to see how we move, and I need the rest of you to stop watching him like Kael sent us a replacement for somebody."
Hollis picked up his shield. "I wasn't worried about being replaced."
Sera passed him on her way into the open yard. "Your shield weighs almost as much as he does. I think you're safe."
Rain followed them out.
There were several wooden training posts along the far wall, but Varen ignored them. Instead, he walked to the center of the yard and waited until everyone spread around him.
Rain drew his sword.
Varen looked at the group before turning toward him. "We normally build around Hollis. If something pushes directly into us, he's the first thing it meets. Tavin controls whichever side gives him more room, and Sera stays close enough to either one that she can move where she's needed. Corin fights closer than he should sometimes, but he knows how to get himself back out."
Corin was adjusting the strap around his wrist. "That sounded unnecessary."
"It was very necessary. Nelle stays behind us when she can, but don't assume she'll always be there. Dain moves wherever someone gets hurt. I don't want you protecting one specific person, Rain. I want you watching for whichever space opens when somebody else has to move."
Rain looked across the formation as Varen explained it. He could already see the difference from the Cinders. Stephen and Lin usually worked close enough to control the same area, which let the rest of them move around that center. Varen's group spread wider. Hollis held one position while Tavin's spear made approaching the other side difficult.
"Where are you?" Rain asked.
Varen drew the sword from his back. "Wherever I need to be. You'll probably hate that answer until you've worked with us for a while."
"No, I get it. Elara does the same thing when she doesn't need to stay in one place."
Varen stepped back and raised his weapon. "Good. Then don't wait for me to tell you every time something changes. First round, watch more than you fight. After that, we'll speed it up."
They began slowly.
Varen moved first, forcing the others to respond as if an attack had come from the front. Hollis stepped forward with his shield while Tavin shifted several feet to the right. Sera stayed behind Hollis long enough for Varen's sword to meet the shield, then moved out from the other side.
Rain saw the opening and stepped toward it.
Sera moved there at the same time.
Rain stopped himself before their shoulders collided.
She had already noticed too and moved around him, but the delay left both of them standing where only one fighter was needed.
Varen lowered his sword.
"That's why we're here."
Rain nodded. "I thought she was staying behind Hollis."
"I do until someone commits to his shield," Sera explained as she returned to her starting position. She pointed with her sword toward the space Rain had tried to take. "Once Hollis has their attention, I come through there. If you see me on his left shoulder, I'm probably about to move. If I'm farther back, then you can take it."
"Got it."
They reset.
The next attempt went better. When Varen pushed toward Hollis again, Rain saw Sera move closer to the shield and stayed out of her path. He shifted farther right instead, but this time Tavin's spear came across in front of him.
Rain pulled back.
Tavin lowered the point. "Sorry. That's mine if I'm standing this close. If I move farther out, there's enough room for both of us."
Rain looked at where Tavin's feet were positioned and nodded. "So if you're inside Hollis's shoulder, I stay out. If you're wider, I can move between you."
"Pretty much."
Varen walked back to the center. "Again."
They repeated it.
Then again.
The pace increased each time.
Rain stopped thinking about where he normally expected Stephen or Lin to be and started watching the people actually around him. Hollis rarely chased anything. Even when Varen pulled away, Hollis held his ground and trusted somebody else to follow. Tavin moved much more than Lin did, changing the length of his grip depending on how close the others were. Sera liked to disappear behind Hollis's shield for only a second before coming out from another angle.
Corin was harder to read.
During one exchange he stayed close to Nelle long enough that Rain assumed he was covering her. Then Varen moved toward Tavin, and Corin immediately left Nelle behind to join him.
Rain moved toward the space Corin had abandoned.
Nelle already had an arrow drawn.
She didn't fire, but Rain saw where she was aiming and moved slightly left, clearing her line while keeping himself between her and Varen.
Nelle lowered the bow once Varen stopped.
"That's better."
Rain looked over his shoulder. "I almost walked in front of your shot."
"I wasn't going to shoot."
"That doesn't make me feel much better."
Nelle smiled as she reached for another practice arrow.
They continued.
By the time Varen called for a break, sweat had started gathering along Rain's neck despite the light exercise. It wasn't exhaustion. He was concentrating harder than he normally needed to with the Cinders.
Hollis set his shield against the ground and rolled one shoulder. "You're watching our feet a lot."
Rain wiped his forehead with his sleeve. "It's easier than trying to guess what you're thinking. Sera gets closer to you before she moves around the shield. Tavin changes his stance when he's going wide. Corin keeps leaning toward wherever he's about to go."
Corin looked down at his feet. "I do?"
"You do."
Varen had been listening from a few steps away. "That's what I needed to know. Strength wasn't the question. Kael wouldn't have sent you if you couldn't fight. I needed to know whether you'd keep trying to make us move like your usual squad or learn what we already do."
Rain took the water flask Hollis offered him and drank before handing it back. "It would be easier if you all moved like them."
Hollis laughed. "We're not learning an entire new formation because you're here for four days."
"I figured."
The break lasted only a few minutes before Varen called them back.
This time he didn't explain what he was going to do.
He attacked Hollis, pulled away before Sera could move, then changed direction toward Tavin. Rain started after him but saw Corin shift first. Instead of following, Rain turned back toward the space Corin had left.
Varen changed direction again straight toward Nelle but Rain was already there. Their swords met.
Varen pushed once, testing his position. Rain held, but instead of trying to overpower him, he turned his blade and forced Varen's weapon away from Nelle's side. Hollis was too far to reach them immediately. Tavin had already started moving back, while Sera came around from Rain's left.
Rain didn't chase Varen when he retreated.
He moved aside.
Sera passed through the space without slowing and met Varen's next strike.
A practice arrow crossed between them a moment later.
Varen stepped away and raised one hand.
Everyone stopped.
Rain lowered his sword.
For several seconds Varen looked over the positions they had ended in. Hollis had returned to the center. Tavin covered the right. Sera was still forward, and Corin had moved back close enough to Dain that neither was exposed.
Varen sheathed his sword.
"That'll work."
Nobody made a big deal out of it.
Sera walked back toward the equipment shed and picked up her water. Tavin started checking the wrapping around his spear grip. Nelle collected the practice arrows she'd used, and Corin came over to retrieve one that had landed near Rain.
Hollis passed Rain on the way out of the yard, then stopped and pointed toward the spare shield still sitting on the table.
"You mind helping me strap that one onto the wagon? The buckle keeps twisting when I do it alone."
Rain sheathed his sword. "Sure."
They carried it over together.
By the time the supplies were loaded, nobody was standing around wondering what Rain was doing there anymore.
They left the capital shortly after.
Rain expected Elara might still be in the command meeting with Kael, and when Varen gave the order to move, he didn't wait around looking for her. They had already spoken the night before. She knew when he was leaving, and he knew she had her own work.
The group had nearly reached the northern gate when someone called his name from behind.
Rain turned.
Elara was making her way through the people crossing the avenue, her white hair tied back and several folded papers still held beneath one arm. She slowed when she reached them and looked toward the wagon already moving through the gate.
"I thought you said two."
Rain glanced toward the large clock mounted above the nearby guard station. "It is two."
Elara followed his eyes and sighed. "Kael's meeting felt longer."
"Was it bad?"
"No, there were just too many people trying to decide where to send the same three units. Every time somebody settled on something, another person wanted to move them somewhere else." She shifted the papers beneath her arm and looked past Rain toward Varen's group. "So those are the people you're going with?"
"Yeah. We ran through their formation before leaving. It's different from ours, but I think I understand where they want me."
Elara looked back at him. "Did they give you a hard time?"
"Not really. They wanted to know why they needed somebody else when they've already been working together. I would've asked the same thing. Varen had us practice for a while, and once they saw where I could fit, everyone stopped worrying about it."
That seemed to answer whatever Elara had been wondering. Her shoulders relaxed slightly as she moved closer and noticed his bag strap had folded the edge of his collar underneath it.
She reached up and pulled the fabric free.
Rain looked down at her hand. "You did that last time."
"And somehow you still haven't learned to check it."
"I can't see my own collar."
"You own a mirror."
"I'm not bringing a mirror on a field assignment just for my collar."
Elara laughed and let her hand drop. "I'm not asking you to."
Varen's group had continued slowly toward the gate, giving Rain enough time without stopping the entire departure. Rain adjusted his bag and stepped backward once.
"It should still be four days. Maybe five if the roads slow us down."
"I remember. Just send something back if the assignment changes. You don't need to give me a whole report. I just don't want you disappearing north and then finding out from Kael that Varen decided to keep going for another week."
"I will. And if you all get sent somewhere before I come back, leave something for me too. Last time I got back and nobody was at the lodge, I thought I'd missed an assignment."
"You asked Mordred where everyone went."
"He was the only person there."
"He told you we were at the southern yard."
"He told me you were south. That's not the same thing."
Elara smiled. "I'll leave a note."
Rain heard Varen call from farther ahead.
He lifted one hand toward him before looking back at Elara. "I should go."
"Go. They're already waiting for you."
"I'll see you in a few days."
"Be careful."
Rain nodded. "You too."
He caught up with the others before they passed through the gate.
Hollis had already taken the front of the wagon while Sera and Tavin walked alongside it. Corin moved over when Rain approached, leaving enough room for him on the road.
"You know," Corin said as they passed beneath the wall, "Varen would've waited another minute."
Rain looked at him. "I know."
Corin glanced back toward the gate, where Elara was still standing among the people entering the city. "Just saying. You ran like we were abandoning you."
"I didn't run."
"You definitely ran the last part."
Rain adjusted the strap of his bag and kept walking. "I was catching up."
Corin smiled but didn't push it.
Rain looked back once before the road curved away from the gate. Elara was already walking in the opposite direction, the papers still tucked beneath her arm.
Then the city walls blocked his view.
They were two days north of the capital when Rain drew his sword for the first time.
The first day had passed without anything worth stopping for. They shared the road with merchants and supply wagons until evening, slept at a guarded stop used by travelers, then left the main route the following morning. By the second afternoon, farms had become less common and long stretches of empty land separated the smaller settlements.
Varen stopped them near a rise in the road.
Nelle was ahead of the group, crouched near the remains of a broken stone wall. When Rain and the others reached her, she pointed toward the low ground beyond it.
"Seven that I can see. Maybe more behind the trees."
Rain moved far enough forward to look without exposing himself above the wall.
Lesser Demons were scattered near an abandoned wagon below. Two were pulling apart something from the back while the others moved around the road. Their silver eyes occasionally darkened as they turned their heads, and one had black blood dried along the side of its arm from an older wound.
Varen studied them for a moment. "No Higher?"
"Not that I've seen."
"Then we clear them and check the wagon. Hollis takes the road. Tavin, stay wide enough that they can't get around his right. Nelle, don't waste arrows if they start running. We only care about the ones close enough to keep threatening the route."
He looked at Rain.
"You remember where you fit?"
Rain drew his sword with his left hand. "Wherever somebody leaves a hole."
Varen nodded. "Good enough."
They moved down.
The first Lesser Demon noticed Hollis before the others reached the road. It screeched and charged, claws stretching toward the shield as Hollis planted his feet.
The impact barely moved him.
Tavin's spear drove past the side of the shield and entered the demon's ribs. He pulled it free immediately and stepped outward as two more came from the trees.
Rain saw the space open.
He moved into it.
His sword caught the first demon across the forearm before its claws reached Tavin. Deep blue resonance formed along the outline of Rain's blade as he turned the weapon and cut again, this time across the demon's chest. It staggered, and Rain stepped past rather than following it.
Sera was already there.
Her sword entered its side.
Rain kept moving.
Another Lesser Demon came from his left. He shifted his sword across his body, caught the claws against the steel and drove his knee into the creature's stomach. Its body folded just enough for Rain to pull his blade free and cut across its neck.
Black blood struck the dirt.
Something pressed sharply against Rain's side.
He almost ignored it.
The demon in front of him was still falling when another burst of resonance spread across the road. Hollis's shield glowed around its edge. Tavin's spear carried a narrow line of color along the steel point, while Sera's weapon flashed as she met another demon near the wagon.
The pressure against Rain's side came again.
A small vibration.
Rain's hand moved toward it before he realized what he was touching.
The bell.
His fingers stopped against the cracked metal beneath his clothes.
A demon rushed him.
Rain pulled his hand away immediately and raised his sword. Its claws struck the blade hard enough to push his arm down, but he stepped aside, let the creature's weight continue past him and cut into its back before it could turn.
"Rain!"
He heard Corin behind him.
Rain looked over.
A Lesser Demon had slipped around the far side of the wagon and was moving toward Nelle while she tried to create enough distance to use her bow.
Rain ran.
Corin reached it first and struck from the side, forcing the demon to turn. Rain came in a moment later and drove his sword beneath its ribs.
The creature went still.
Rain pulled the blade free.
For several seconds he remained there, breathing harder while he looked across the road.
The fight was already ending. One of the remaining demons fled toward the trees, and Varen didn't order anyone after it. Hollis finished another near the wagon while Tavin helped Sera with the last.
Then the road became quiet.
Corin wiped black blood from his sword. "You good?"
Rain nodded, though his attention had already returned to his side.
"Yeah. I thought something caught on my coat."
Corin looked at the fabric. "Rip it?"
"I don't think so."
Rain ran his hand across it once.
Nothing.
Varen called everyone toward the wagon, and Rain followed.
They checked the bodies first, then what remained of the abandoned cargo. Most of it had already been ruined. Dain found blood on the driver's seat but no body, and tracks leading away from the road suggested whoever had been traveling with the wagon might have escaped before the demons reached it.
Rain helped Hollis pull one of the dead Lesser Demons away from the road.
The bell didn't move again.
He waited until the others were busy checking the wagon before slipping two fingers beneath his coat and taking it out.
The old bronze sat quietly in his palm.
Rain turned it over.
The same crack ran down its side. Nothing had broken loose. Nothing looked different from that morning, or the day before, or any of the hundreds of times he'd handled it over the years.
He shook it gently.
Nothing.
Of course there wasn't.
It hadn't made a proper sound since before he could remember.
Rain looked toward the others. Hollis and Varen were discussing whether the wagon could be moved. Sera was helping Nelle recover two arrows from the ground, and Corin had crouched beside Tavin while Dain wrapped a shallow cut along the spearman's forearm.
Nobody seemed to have noticed anything strange.
Rain closed his fingers around the bell.
Maybe it had simply struck against the buckle beneath his coat when the demon hit his sword. There had been enough movement during the fight that he couldn't be sure.
He slipped it back into place.
"Rain," Varen called. "Give us a hand with this."
Rain walked over.
"What are we doing?"
"Hollis thinks we can get the wagon off the road without breaking the axle."
Hollis put both hands against the side. "I said we can try."
Rain moved beside him and placed one hand against the damaged wood. "And if the axle breaks?"
"Then we stop worrying about the axle."
Rain nodded. "Good plan."
They pushed.
The wagon shifted slowly across the dirt until its damaged wheel cleared the road.
By the time they finished, Rain had stopped thinking about the bell.
It remained quiet against his side as they continued north.