Chapter Two – Squad 23Gray and Rynn hurried down the path away from the barracks and the bathhouse. To the south, rising into the sky, was the seventh pylon, Pride Tower, where the dragons lived. Settie hated most everything and everyone, but she had a special hate for the Supera family who ruled there. Why? Might as well ask the stones of the tower.

  The pair reached the canteen just as it was closing. A huge dog woman with bck and white fur stood outside—her belly was big but her chest was bigger…if only by an inch or two. Deme Hek Bckpaw basically ran First Field since the Magistrate Malcon Crewel rarely, if ever, showed his face. And yet, Crewell had an uncanny knowledge of the comings and goings of the recruits there. Did he know that Squad 23 was living off campus? Probably. And yet, Settie wanted them to keep up appearances.

  Gray walked up to the dog woman. “Mrs. Bckpaw, it is a lovely autumn day made better by seeing you.”

  The dog woman grinned, showing yellow teeth. It wasn’t pleasant. “Grayson Fade of the 23. Always the fucking charmer. Anyone else wanting to come in after breakfast ended, well, I’d go tell them to go fuck themselves. But you? We all like you. Go in. Go in. Hurry. We’re already cleaning up. Your team is worried sick. Or pissed off. One or the other or both, depending.”

  Inside, Gray saw the rest of his squad, along with Captain Settie, who would be in the pissed-off category, without a doubt.

  He and Rynn grabbed the purpleberry ironbites, some metal cups of charbrew, and some of the foul murky water, also in metal cups, and hurried to their usual tables by the windows. Outside, under a cloudy sky y the training fields down a steep incline—the river was a ribbon of gray cutting through the forest where there were splotches of autumn yellow in the greenery. On the other side was the big coliseum and the pink pace on the hill.

  Midjara Munch sprang off the table and rushed over and grabbed Gray’s hand. She was a wide little woman with a round face and bck hair, clean and combed and braided. Like the rest of their squad, she wore a green and bck uniform with polished bck boots. “Come, friends, we were starting to worry. Well, I wasn’t worried, I was eating. You know, give a goblin breakfast and the rest of the day will take care of itself. Ames, though, was near tears. And the captain, oh the captain, good gravy…she was, uh, not going to wait much longer.”

  Settie wore her wide-brimmed hat and mask—her cane was nearby.

  Gray set his stick next to her cane. “Sorry we’re te. We had to fight through yelling orcs and scorpions to get here.”

  Ames—otherwise known as Amaranthis Tal’Vessra—sighed. “No. No, there was love to be had. The dawn came and so did—”

  “Anyway!” Rynn—blushing furiously—cut the Quelling elf off. “We’re here, we’ll eat, and we’ll get started. Gray is going to try and eat his entire muffin.”

  “What’s a muffin?” Ames asked. Her hair was wild and white, striking against her dark skin. The tears made the purple flecks in her auburn eyes shimmer.

  Gray felt her envy. She knew the true nature of his retionship with Rynn…as did Captain Settie. But Midj and Tomika Ka remained in the dark.

  Tomi, the cat girl, seemed to be sleeping, but it was hard to tell with the piles of frizzy hair covering her eyes.

  Gray and Rynn set their metal trays down on the table and sat down.

  That’s when Tomi proved she wasn’t sleeping. “We all know what a muffin is. We also know that Gray and Rynn are an item, a couple, engaged in spirited love py. Look at his glow? I’m surprised she’s not walking funny.”:

  “Tomi!” Rynn nearly shouted. “Please!”

  Midj patted the elf girl’s hand. “It’s fine with us. You both make a very sweet couple. We’re just gd that Gray has a core that he can fill.”

  “Like he fills the elf,” Tomi chuckled.

  “It must feel good,” Ames said in a quiet voice.

  Rynn didn’t say a word, just sat there, blushing furiously. It was like she wanted to vanish.

  Gray, though, had bigger fish to fry—or a bigger muffin to eat actually.

  Settie sat with her back as straight as an iron sword. He had no idea what she was thinking behind that mask, and she wasn’t saying a word. She merely pointed to the muffin.

  Gray sipped his charbrew, drank some of the murky water, and then took a bite. The first one wasn’t bad, especially with the blueberries bursting in his mouth. But with the second and the third bite, he felt the heaviness in his stomach grow and grow.

  He closed his eyes and focused on his breath. He was back at the pce of water and stars, standing in the water with the little shack in the distance. The lights in the window were as bright as ever and the ughter rolled across the water.

  It made him smile.

  But behind the shack was the rock-lined well. He could feel the presence there, and he knew that while it seemed like he was standing in water, he was standing in the souls of the dead.

  He couldn’t think about that.

  He had to focus on the happy chatter of the women in the shack.

  And then he felt the mana in his core expanding as it absorbed the ironbite and then, he realized something. He could feel the food being absorbed into his body—it was a glow in his stomach that tempted him to be nauseous, but he fought it, choosing to be curious rather be sick. The glow was all around him and he breathed through the pain and nausea. He was actually excited to take the next bite, which was his st one.

  Yes, his core felt enormous, and he’d thought he’d filled it completely, being with Rynn st night and this morning. He definitely had a lust resonance. But then, he was pretty sure he had all the seven resonances.

  He took the st bite with everyone looking.

  Midj ughed. “You look like my uncle eating fried snipfish at a Yullolly Festival. Having fun, Gray?”

  He smiled wearily. “I’m not sure I’d call it fun, but it is interesting. I can feel the ironbite being digested. It’s like a warm glow. Let me eat this st bit.”

  He ate it, chewing, and while it was potent, and while his stomach felt swollen, his core felt even more filled. And with the muffin, more mana slipped in, and he could feel it radiating out of him. “It is a lot. I have so much mana. Who wants some?”

  No one said anything.

  “I can feel it,” Rynn said.

  “We all can,” Midj’s voice was filled with disbelief.

  Ames was loud. “See? The sunlight. An ocean of light. A star, burning, burning, burning us all. He burns us all!”

  “Mother’s whiskers,” Tomi hissed. “Keep it down, Ames. People are looking.”

  The canteen was mostly empty, but the staff were whispering and pointing.

  Gray was feeling uncomfortable. Rynn had said that the ironbite acted as a lubricant, and now the mana was rushing into him, and he could feel his core expanding even more. He was growing desperate.”

  “Give it to me!” Settie said suddenly.

  Gray lurched forward and grabbed her hand. He was leaning over the table, gazing into her eyes, which were barely visible through her mesh mask.

  He saw them widen.

  Her core was big but not as big as his.

  The dragon woman snarled, “I’m ready. Just do it.”

  And then he sent the mana into her. Her eyes glowed with a golden light. Everyone left in the canteen went silent as the mana washed over them.

  Settie raised her mask. Her face was scales, and she had fangs instead of teeth. Through the reptilian slits in her nostrils, she exhaled fmes.

  The heat washed over Gray, and he was forced to sit back down. He could smell the singed ends of his hair. It turned his stomach. He’d thought he’d get through his breakfast without feeling nauseated. He felt less full of power but now his stomach was doing flip-flops.

  The captain’s ughter was a tad more bitter than he would’ve expected. Her mask was back in pce, so he couldn’t read her face. “Yes, the ironbites are doing their work. That is good. The problem is that you have no control. Let’s address that, shall we?”

  They got up and left the hall.

  Midj grabbed his hand. “We missed you at breakfast this morning.”

  “Sorry we were te.”

  The goblin girl gave his hand a squeeze. “No, I mean back at Ruin Manor. I cooked us some pigs in a bnket for a little wakesies snack. Don’t worry, I have leftovers.”

  He ughed. “I don’t know which I’m more shocked by—that you have something called a wakesies snack or that you’re eating swine in bedding.”

  Midj chuckled. “It’s sausages in dough, ya big human.”

  Rynn was far forward, talking with Ames and Tomi. Still farther was the captain, marching down the steps, tapping her cane as she went.

  There were a ton of people there—all of the sparring pavilions were filled, the weights in the rgest tented area were all being used, and the whole area was vibrating with energy. Pinch and her Fae squad were running the trail, the seven slim figures far in the distance.

  Gray was gd for that, though with how he was feeling, giving Rynn the mana to fight her would be fun. But the captain was right—he needed to gain control over his own magic, so then he could do the fighting himself.

  But then Gray realized something. There were far more then forty-nine people there. After the culling, only eight squads remained, including Squad 23, so where did all the other people come from?

  He recognized some faces, but they’d been culled, or at least their team had been.

  The captain saw his confusion. “Sponsors buy rooms in the barracks for the year, and so, some stay because they have nowhere else to go. Others want to stay to see the Testing, while still others continue to train and improve themselves in hopes that a team will add them to their squad. I was tempted, and we might find a sixth and seventh, but for now, none of these recruits are worthy of us.”

  They went to their usual mediation deck and collected cushions, which they pced on the polished wooden floor.

  Midj let go of his hand but then grabbed Rynn’s. “We’re going to choose a name for our squad, right? I mean, Squad 23 doesn’t have the right branding, I don’t think. We did the impossible and won Culling Day with only five of us, so we should have better name. The Ferocious Five has a certain ring to it.”

  “Fucked up five?” Tomi offered.

  Gray ughed a little. “Let’s not do that one. What if we get more recruits on our squad? We’d have to change our name. Freek’s squad is the Wrath Rats, but I don’t like the idea of naming our squad after demons.”

  “But that’s what most people do,” Midj said. “Notice, I didn’t suggest the Humble Serpents, but I thought about it. How about Humility Cats?”

  Tomi wrinkled her nose and one of her ears twitched. “Isn’t that a bit on the nose? It is for me at least.”

  “Nosers?” Midj suggested. “Mana eaters?”

  Ames got in on the game. “Sunshiners. World Licks. Starkillers.”

  Tomi snorted. “World Licks? Again, too on the nose. The Cleaners?”

  “Enough!” Captain Sette shouted. She was sitting in front of them all, on her own cushion, when she banged her cane on the floor. “What we call ourselves doesn’t matter. Winning does. Now that Gray has a resonance, we need to capitalize on that. Let’s meditate and perhaps a name will come to us, though Squad 23 is fine. I generally don’t name the squads I run.”

  “But you did have the Mana Panthers,” Rynn whispered. “The Panthers were very powerful.”

  The dragon woman went still. “Yes, the Panthers. I forgot about them. You are correct, Rynn. But let us fall silent and connect to our cores.”

  Gray closed his eyes and focused on his center and the mana that swirled inside of him. Unfortunately, sitting there, he also felt the nausea. Again, thinking of the pce of water and stars helped him, as did the presence of the woman there, Oma, who he’d never seen.

  His nausea improved with every breath.

  “Now,” the captain said. “You said something about feeling yourself digesting the ironbite, and that’s good. Every part of your body is connected to your core—feel the meridians inside of you, focus on how you power them all through your breath. Imagine that with every breath, your core grows bigger, glows brighter, until is it is overflowing…and it is, especially for Gray.”

  “Going old school,” Tomi muttered. “I remember doing this when I was just a kitten.”

  “Shush up or we’ll get in trouble,” Midj said. “The captain is doing this for Gray.”

  Sette didn’t like that. “No! I am doing this for all of you. Meridian work is important for you all, and even I have seen improvements when I have refocused on the fundamentals. You are all fully marked neophytes and are on your way to becoming acolytes. I know most of you have your second mana itch, which is exactly what I want. That itch can help you channel the mana better into your muscles, strength your bones, and even thicken your skin. Strong is the manamancer who can channel their magic to every part of their body. Now, concentrate on your resonance. Feel it power you.”

  Gray took a breath in and let it out. He remembered all the things he’d done with Rynn, st night and this morning, and his breath quickened. The lust was in his belly, and he felt himself stiffen. Yes, he felt the energy in his core, but he couldn’t figure out a way to extend it through his meridians. He felt his muscles, his skin, everything, all the parts of his body, and yet, he couldn’t force the magic into those parts of him.

  He felt blocked.

  In the distance, he heard the tromping of feet, and he knew the Fae squad had rounded the corner and were heading back to the fields.

  Ames hissed madness. “A length of ice, in her gut, long and hard and cold as hell’s kiss. That length of ice will burst into fmes, and I’ll burn. We’ll all burn.”

  Sette hissed back. “Amaranthis. Hush.”

  “No!” the Quelling elf shrieked.

  Ames leapt to her feet. She didn’t have trouble channeling mana into her meridians. She shot off the meditation deck and went sprinting across the field.

  A second ter, she tackled Pamalee Thornpinch.

  It was an abrupt end to their meditation all right.

  “Now that is one crazy fucking elf.” Tom’s ughter was bitter. “Well, this is an unexpected turn of events.”