I followed Lilan back to the front of the tent, where a group of five men and women sat huddled on one of the piles of blankets. They made room for him and he nestled into the group between a few of them. A woman next to him offered me a smile and then slid over, giving me space to sit down, too.

  I sat, but not before doing another quick glance for Sil, even using [Insight] to see if I could catch sight of him somewhere. When I didn't, I gave up and collapsed onto the blankets, letting the exhaustion of the past few days and the soreness from the ride in the prison wagon wash over me.

  "Aria, this is Kev, Truan, Hina, Jau, and Lano," Lilan said, going around the circle.

  Kev was a shorter man with a heavy build and a bald head. He had a long beard and mustache that was smoke colored, and he offered a bow of his head as Lilan said his name. Truan was next to him. He looked slightly lankier with black hair that sat close to his ears, though his shirtless body bulged with muscle compared to the more rounded appearance that marked Kev's body.

  Hina, Jau, and Lano were all three seated to the left of Truan. They all three had medium-length, flowing blonde hair, and blue eyes that looked like I was staring into the depths of the Irindor Sea after storm season, when the water was its darkest. They also all three looked almost identical to one another.

  I nodded in greeting back to them, but had a hard time being friendly as they devolved back into their conversations. Some were discussing the work they'd been doing, which piqued my interest somewhat. The camp, at least so far as any of them had noticed, seemed to be focused around digging out a quarry in the forest, as well as gathering lumber.

  I shivered at the thought of what my other self might need those kind of resources for. We were only days away from the capital, but if her plans to move it were true, then these resources could easily be shipped further into the empire to use for construction. The forests here were especially vast, which was why they'd become a key area for lumber gathering over the centuries.

  But moving resources like this over such distances was slow, not to mention ridiculous, considering there were plenty of other forests across the empire that they could gather lumber from. So what was the point of all of this?

  I massaged the corners of my eyes, the thoughts like a hammer against the inside of my skull. My entire body ached from the fighting in the palace and the journey here. And I couldn't stop the worry gnawing in my chest.

  It had been bad enough to lose sight of Ophelia, but the fact that Sil was missing too left a knot in my gut that I was having a hard time unraveling from.

  Saying nothing, I pushed back from the group, unable to quiet the voice in my head telling me that everything was going wrong, and slipped out of the tent. I caught Lilan watching me as I went, but he didn’t speak.

  I slipped past a group of soldiers I spotted coming my way—ducking between two other tents as they passed—and then continued back in the direction of what I thought was the front of the camp. I wasn’t sure that they’d cause me any trouble, but I didn’t really feel like answering questions about what I was doing at the moment.

  The muddy path was caked with ruts where people had wandered through it, and I used those to my advantage where I could, doing my best to keep my boots and thus my new pants from getting too dirty. Sil had to be around here somewhere.

  I started slipping my head into tents as I passed them, using [Insight] on the people I spotted. All I needed was some semblance of the System's message to let me know I was looking in the right place. Unfortunately, it never came, and I continued to wander through the various areas of the camp, sticking my head in and out of tents as the sun finished its descent below the horizon, the first of the moons taking their rightful place in the sky.

  I had just spotted a tent with the red and blue healer's mark painted on the side when I heard a grunt behind me. I turned to find a soldier staring down at me, his gaze almost going cross-eyed as he gawked at me.

  "What are you doing wandering around after dark?" His voice was deep and he spoke in a hushed tone that seemed to emanate with the threat of violence. It was a sound that I'd become far too accustomed to hearing since my reawakening.

  "I was looking for the healers," I told him. It was the truth, and I was standing directly outside of their tent, so it should have been believable.

  His eyes narrowed further and he brought a gnarled and scarred hand to his face, rubbing it along the stubble that ran the length of his chin and cheek. "That why you've been sticking your head in every godsdamned tent you passed? Can't you see the healer's mark right there on the side of the tent?" He pointed a finger at the mark.

  "I wasn't sure the tent would have the mark, so I wanted to make sure I didn't miss it, that's all." I tried to keep my voice calm and submissive.

  I must not have succeeded because his mouth twisted slightly, his eyes alighting with anger.

  "What do you need with the healers tonight anyway? Look perfectly fine to me." His eyes ran down my body, accessing me.

  "Someone I know was taken to them," I told him. I had to diffuse the situation. It seemed I'd somehow broken some kind of rule being out after the moons had risen. But nobody had given me a pamphlet—how in the seven hells was I supposed to know it was against the camp's rules?

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "Well, whoever they are, they'll be just fine without seeing you. Come on now." His gnarled hand reached out for my arm, gripping it tight enough to draw a pained grunt from my lips. "Don't start that now," he warned. "Or I'll make sure you get worse than what's coming to you."

  "Excuse me?" I asked without thinking.

  The soldier stopped, fingers growing tighter around my arm. He turned back to face me, his face a mask. The growing fury behind it only visible within his eyes.

  I knew I should recoil. I should beg for mercy, forgiveness, the whole thing. But I couldn't. Something about the way he looked at me so insolently only stoked the fire in my gut. The pile of fuel I'd been stockpiling for my anger suddenly collapsed into the flames, and I lashed out, using [Swift Strike] as I did. My foot kicked up from the mud and slammed into his crotch. Luckily he wasn't wearing a full set of iron armor, and the fwap of my boot against leather pants rose in the night.

  He groaned, his hand releasing its pressure on my arm as he keeled over, rushing to protect himself from any other kicks. I didn't wait to see the fury I knew he could no longer mask. I took off running, slipping past him and hurling my feet forward through the mud.

  Shouts rose behind me, and I tried to slip between two tents again, hoping that the soldiers hadn't seen me. I held my breath, quietly counting down in my head.

  10.

  9.

  8.

  I just needed to wait a few more seconds, then they should run right past me.

  5.

  4.

  Any moment now.

  2.

  1.

  A group of four soldiers barreled past the front of the makeshift alley I’d taken refuge in, not bothering to look toward me.

  I let out the breath I'd been holding and scrambled to the edge of the tent, peering around slowly, half expecting to find them waiting on the other side, arms crossed, wagging their fingers.

  It was a ridiculous thought.

  Thankfully, I didn't see any soldiers in sight, which was enough to cause me to let out a heavy sigh. That had been close—too close. I kept my head low and started back for the tent where I'd left Lilan and his group. Unfortunately, getting back to the tent in the dim light of the night was much harder than I'd expected it would be.

  It also seemed I had riled up the soldiers with little stunt, as patrols began to appear throughout the camp, flickering torches held high as they searched around for something. I was almost certain they were looking for me, but perhaps someone else out there had been causing trouble, too.

  I used the shadows to my advantage, counting on my [Shadow Walker] skill to help keep me hidden from view as I slinked back toward where I thought the prisoner’s tents were.

  Somehow in my attempts to find Sil and the healer's tent, I'd completely forgotten to keep track of which turns and paths I had taken, and in the dark all the muddy paths looked the same. I cringed at my own stupidity and chose a random tent, one that looked like it would probably have room in it.

  It was dark when I slipped through the canvas door at the front. I let my eyes adjust—they weren't as slow to do so as a human's, despite the body I wore—and my breath caught when I realized where I was.

  There were several beds lining the edges of the tent, and most of them were filled with sleeping forms.

  Beds in this place? I took a step forward instinctively, the exhaustion in my body winning over my own common sense. There was no way I should be here. This kind of place in a camp like this was not meant for people like me. And yet… the beds called to me. They beckoned my aching body to collapse onto them and give in to the little comfort that they offered.

  Could I get away with it? Sleeping in one of the soldiers' tents?

  It was a risky move, and one that was perhaps too stupid to try, especially on my first night in this place. But oh, it sounded divine. I debated the idea for far longer than anyone with sense should have, but ultimately decided it wasn't worth it.

  Even if I couldn't find Lilan's tent, I'd need to find a different one to call my home for the night. Cursing softly, I turned back toward the entrance and slipped out into the night once more.

  A soldier was walking down the path toward the tent when I exited, and he spotted me with a jolt, raising the torch that he held over his head higher so that its flickering light illuminated my face.

  "What were you doing in there?" he asked. "Prisoners aren't permitted in the army's quarters."

  "I just got turned around," I said, holding up my hands. Part of me wanted to run, but doing so would just lead to the same thing. At least if I turned myself in, I might be able to get off easily.

  Or I might end up with a sword in my gut.

  "I'm sorry," I told him as he stepped closer. "Please, I just want to get back to my tent and get some sleep."

  He shook his head. "You were trespassing. Even if you didn't mean to, that's a crime punishable by death in this place. That doesn’t even begin to address the fact you assaulted a soldier of the empire."

  I frowned, trying to force tears down my cheeks. Brute force wasn't getting me anywhere with these men, would playing into the weakness they already saw in me work out better? I must have succeeded in my attempts because I felt warm tears streak down my face. His face softened at the sight.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, my voice cracked as I spoke. “This is just so scary. I just arrived today and my friend was hurt and they took her to the healers, and I just wanted to make sure she was okay.”

  He stood there, flickering torchlight painting us both in orange and yellow before finally shaking his head. "Come now, there's no need for that."

  He took me by the arm, gentler than any others had, and started leading me away. "Let's get you back to your tent. You stay away from places you aren't supposed to be, and watch your feet around the men running this place, or they'll throw you in the stockades—or worse." His mouth quirked into a frown at the mention of "worse."

  "What's going to happen to us," I asked him in a soft word, trying to keep up the facade. This was working far better than I'd expected. Perhaps I should have tried it sooner.

  "You'll work. Just like they tell you to. That's all there is to it. Keep your heads down and do what you're told."

  "Did she really order this?" I pushed harder. "The empress I mean. Everyone says she sent us here."

  I watched his mouth open and close several times a we walked, his eyes shifting from staring forward and confident to troubled. Wavering. "I don't know." He finally admitted. "That's what the General says and that's got to be good enough for me."

  He pulled me to a stop and held up the torch toward one of the tents that ran adjacent to the path.

  "In you go, now, and don't let me catch you wandering about anymore or I’ll be forced to turn you in myself."

  I nodded and wiped at my face as I ducked inside, the flickering light of the torch fading a moment later as he continued on his patrol.