55 Orders to Kill (1/2)

”Then what happened?” Ty asked me.

”After we returned to headquarters, we transferred our prisoners to the interrogation team for questioning and the children to the healing camp to see if they could break the curse,” I answered.

It was Wednesday, the day after the Foolhardies' successful mission behind enemy lines. Ty, Arah and I were sharing an afternoon meal at Edward's Chocolate Bar after school so I could share my mission report with them.

”Darah was pleased we stumbled on the clue to the enemy's secret sooner than she anticipated,” I breathed in the scent of hot cocoa wafting out of my mug. ”She thought it was a nice stroke of luck.”

”Were they able to help the children?” Arah asked.

Arah's brow hadn't stopped being furrowed since I told her about the child sacrifices. Honestly, if she'd told me the dark things I told her, I'd feel agitated too.

I shook my head. ”Not sure... dawn arrived before the healers tried... I'll know by tonight.”

”Damn, dude,” Ty paused to sip on the straw of his milk tea before continuing. ”That's nasty stuff you've told us. I mean, who does that to kids?”

I shrugged. ”Everyone's got their own circumstances over there... it's crazy shit.”

”For sure,” Ty nodded.

”Well,” Arah leaned back on her chair. ”At least we know you've got a weakness, Dean...”

I raised an eyebrow at her. ”What? What weakness?”

”You keep losing your one-on-one fights... you need more training,” Arah deduced.

She was right, of course. I'd just been lucky in my last few fights to have such capable underlings saving me at the last moment. But she knew, as well as I did, that luck could only take me so far. I needed to get my groove back and win some solo fights before I encountered Azuma again.

”Or you could just have one of your stronger teammates stick close to you so they could save your ass whenever you're in need,” Ty joked.

His joke pricked on my pride a little.

”Seriously, Dean... you need more training... get back to your Kendo basics,” Arah repeated.

”I know...” I sighed. ”Maybe after the war...”

”If you survive,” Ty teased.

”If I survive,” I agreed in a light manner. Although deep down I really was feeling the pressure. The Foolhardies were finally taking part in tonight's big battle. We were in the big leagues now where the pressure was definitely higher.

”Maybe try not to rely too much on your fairy gift,” Arah suggested as she blew on her own cup of hot chocolate. ”I get the feeling that you're using it too much and it's dulling your other battle senses?” Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

For a girl who only started martial arts recently, Arah was certainly well on her way to sounding like a combat freak. Ty recently started joking that she was turning into a cliched TV trope of an Asian girl who was both into math and had badass fighting skills, but I thought it was cool.

”You mean my battle sense is unbalanced because I'm relying on sight too much,” I guessed.

”Exactly,” she said. ”Wax on, wax off, Dean...”

Ty, who had just finished the plate of hashbrowns we'd ordered, asked me an interesting question, ”Can you even use, um, Fool's Insight here?”

I grinned. ”Wouldn't you like to know...”

”Dude, seriously... can you?” he asked insistently.

I downed my cup of semi-hot chocolate and enjoyed the sweet and sour taste in my mouth before gulping it all down.

”I'll tell you some other time,” I answered. ”Let's go... I need to get to sleep.”

The trip back to the Fayne was still as thrilling as the first time I took it. The cool wind buffeting my face. The feeling of losing gravity and climbing up to the sky. Then the subsequent fall that made the insides of your stomach go up to your throat. There was nothing like it.

”Greetings, Commander,” Varda saluted me as I stretched my back. ”Comman — I mean General Thors asked me to tell you he wanted to see you when you arrived from Mudgard.”

”Got it, Varda,” I returned her salute with my own hammerfist to the chest. ”Thanks.”

I looked left and then looked right, taking in the view that greeted me.

Varda and I were standing in front of the rest of the Foolhardies. All of them neatly lined up in rows of five. To their left and to their right were other hundred-man units in ordered rows. This line of soldiers stretched to the sides as far as I could see.

Hundreds of midnight blue banners with a variety of symbols fluttered in the wind. The aroma of sweat mixed with the scent of metal and earth. A hundred different sounds, from the whispering of soldiers to the sounding of horns and the neighing of centaurs, floated around me.

Chills ran up my back. Goosebumps rose on my arms. For it was then that I felt a sense of awe in what I was now a part of. I was a soldier in the great war machine that was the Darah army.