Roskvir held his glaive high above his head, then swung downward with well-practiced control.

  The headless body of the canvas-jacketed soldier fell prone at his feet. Roskvir raised the severed head, displaying it to the silent crowd of natives corralled there at gunpoint before the gallows, then dropped it into the bucket with the rest.

  “Well done, Englihavt.” Jari clapped as one would for an opera, as Roskvir descended the stairs behind the platform. “Quick and without the slightest hesitation. Your executions leave the perfect impression. I’d wager we won’t see any more partisan activity operating out of the southern forests here for quite some time.”

  “Really, sir?” said Roskvir. “I don’t know if I really prefer this kind of thing, myself. Seems like the sort of job anyone could do.”

  “Ah, well. I’d never have guessed, based on your performances. But that only speaks to your progress between our sessions. You are the very image of obedience, if I do say so myself — very nearly ready to be finished with my therapy. And worry not. I think you’ll enjoy your next assignment more. Come, let’s return to the Tanngnjostr.”

  “What sort of assignment, sir?”

  “His excellency has found the former vizeadmiral Taerfoer’s rogue enclave to have grown strategically bothersome, as it has festered in the ruins of native’s capital.” said Jari, as Roskvir followed him back to the moored swift. “A previous assault by the 8th Grenadiers meant to dislodge her presence failed completely. In fact, it seemed to swell her strength. Thus the shogun has decided a more surgical operation would be prudent. You and a handful of my other elites are to be inserted into the catacombs in which she has taken refuge, where you will locate and neutralize her.”

  “I suppose that makes sense,” said Roskvir. He didn’t actually know if it really did make sense at all, but it seemed like the right thing to say at a moment like that.

  “And you’re in luck, Englihavt, because this certainly won’t be something anyone else could do, as you say. There’s of course the famed martial prowess I’ve tried so hard to leave intact with you throughout our sessions, which will be necessary to employ to take down Taerfoer. But I’m also hoping your history working with her will give your team a leg up. Insider knowledge on her techniques, and all that. Do you remember much of her sjaelsvabening?”

  “I think so,” said Roskvir. “Thjali was very quick. And she made anyone near her… afraid. I remember not liking it. And I remember she was very confident in herself, maybe even arrogant. But… not much else, about her. Except that she betrayed me… I think.”

  “She did indeed. So that’s another reason to enjoy this next assignment, Englihavt. It's your chance for revenge.”

  “If you say so, sir.”

  “Ah, well. The old Roskvir would’ve appreciated the opportunity. You can just take my word for it. Either way, report to my office at eleven tonight. The shogun has allocated some very special extra resources to naval intelligence in order to facilitate the mission in question. You and the rest of the team will use them to prepare tonight and tomorrow, and then you’ll be deployed the day after that. Furthermore, given your general progress, I’ll consider the preparations tonight to be your final test. Once you pass, as I’m sure you will, you’ll be ready to be presented to the shogun.”

  “How will the preparations be a test, sir?” asked Roskvir.

  “Oh, well saying how would spoil it. But as I said, I have full confidence in you. At this point,” said Jari, smiling back at him, “I’ve seen what makes you tick.”

  * * *

  “Welcome, Englihavt,” whispered Jari. “Careful closing the door behind you, there — we mustn’t wake him. You’ll see, in just a moment.”

  The Tanngnjostr’s shipboard intelligence office was empty, Roskvir saw, as indeed he slipped inside with quiet care. Cubicles and telegraph consoles which he’d always assumed were kept in operation by at least a skeleton crew throughout the night were instead unmanned. Many of the Tanngnjostr’s facilities were expansive, as allowed for by the warship’s enormous size, but that office in particular had really been allocated quite a bit of space, which made it all the more eerie so abandoned.

  “...Sir?”

  “Yes, I’ve had them all dismissed for the next three hours. It's a very special resource, as I said.”

  Jari led Roskvir back into his private office, a place with which he’d grown familiar over the past two months. Five other officers were waiting there around the oblong conference table, four men and a woman, none of whom Roskvir could remember ever having met. Each had the wiry build and cynical stare of naval intelligence’s most seasoned field operatives.

  “Here we are all together, then. This is the team I’ve selected. But we’ll have time for introductions later — what we’re doing tonight is a very precise thing, and timing matters. First, all of you, put these on. These are polarized in such a way that will help you see the subject’s projections during the procedure.”

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  Jari gave the six of them each a pair of strange goggles, with lenses tinted very slightly brown. The other five donned their pairs, and so Roskvir followed suit.

  “These, on the other hand,” said Jari, as he handed them cloth hoods cut with eyeholes, ”are more for the sake of tradition.”

  Once Roskvir wore both items, what he saw was a scene as if out of a child’s nightmare. Six other hooded figures stood together with eyes made beady and bulging by the goggles beneath.

  “Come.” Jari beckoned them to the far side of his office. “Now, besides Roskvir, I know two of you have never attended an observation before. Not that any of you are strangers to this, in our line of work — but I must say before we go further, that everything involved in the following procedure is to be kept to the highest degree of secrecy. Divulging anything you are about to see to anybody beyond this room is punishable by a very painful death. I would not be having any of you attend if I had anything less than the utmost trust in you, for one reason or another.”

  As he spoke those last words, Roskvir thought he could sense Jari smiling at him again, even beneath their hoods.

  Jari then faced the far wall of his office, and flickered his sjael repeatedly in a short sequence. Some hidden mechanism actuated, revealing a door. Jari gestured for them to enter.

  A much smaller room lay at the end of a short, low-ceilinged hall, almost cramped once they were all inside. After adjusting his goggles, Roskvir saw that the room held a rectangular stone block at its center, like an altar.

  And atop the stone, lay a young boy.

  His eyes were open even in unconsciousness, as if he was drugged. And in the candlelight Roskvir could see his pupils were fogged over with milky silver. The child was blind.

  He was a native of Setet. His skin was a color unusual, yet familiar.

  The same olive as that of the princess, thought Roskvir.

  “He’s been taught information about Thjali all throughout the last few days, when he was awake. So with any luck, we’ll see some predictions that will be tactically useful for you lot, before he expires. Now, Roskvir has had the most recent practice with this sort of thing…”

  Jari handed Roskvir a thin stiletto dagger.

  “...so I’ll have him do the honors.”

  * * *

  Roskvir had felt a strange numbness, all throughout those last two months.

  But he seemed to feel it twice over, as he wandered back to his quarters through the halls of the Tanngnjostr, that night. He wasn’t sure how his legs even functioned. It was as if they operated on their own, like those of an automaton.

  The world itself had felt very strange, like he’d been living through a dream. Everything was so confusing.

  Was the world always this confusing?

  Jari had helped make sense of everything. Trusting him was the only way he’d been able to manage, all that time.

  And just like Jari had said — he and his new comrades had seen some tactically useful predictions, that night, if they were to soon do battle with Thjali.

  Before the boy had finished dying, atop the stone, anyway.

  He grasped his own wrist. It was shaking.

  Why was he shaking?

  After many long minutes down twists and turns of the vast warship’s long corridors, he finally reached his destination.

  But he wasn’t back at his quarters, he realized. Instead, two armed guards flanked a door, ahead of him.

  He was outside the princess’ chamber. Had Jari sent him there?

  No… I need to see the princess for another reason.

  His heart was pounding in his chest, like he was readying for the decisive action of a critical battle. Why was adrenaline surging through him?

  He approached the guards. One of them put up a hand.

  “Halt, kapitanleutnant.”

  “I… I need to see the princess,” said Roskvir, even as he still didn’t know why.

  “She’s no visits scheduled tonight,” said the guard.

  “No… I need to see her…” Roskvir tried to start past them.

  “You’re not authorized—”

  There was a flash of crimson, red like blood.

  The smoldering bodies of both guards slumped dead against either side of the door.

  “I need to see her,” Roskvir repeated numbly to the two corpses, one last time.

  * * *

  “Wait, Roskvir… please, wait,” said Aurelia, as Roskvir pulled her along by one hand, at a pace almost too brisk for her to keep up.

  Roskvir looked down at her, confused, but then continued on unabated.

  “Where are we going? Where are you taking me?”

  “I need… to take you away,” he said.

  “Did your master order this?”

  Roskvir blinked repeatedly, as if he didn't know the answer for himself.

  “...No.”

  “Why, then? Where are we going?”

  “I… don’t know,” said Roskvir. “I just know… it's not safe for you, on this ship. So… I think… I need to take you somewhere else.”

  Aurelia looked at him. The dim sheen of the corridor's electric lights reflected in his eyes, however faintly.

  “...Okay,” she said. “I trust you.”

  A klaxon screamed to life without warning. Aurelia recognized the sequence: intruder on-board.

  “Come now,” said Roskvir, pulling her along faster. “Run.”