Yukiko’s unit was allowed into the walled-off area that housed the obstacle course, as it was time for her run. The staff at the starting area explained the course to her, and Gregory could see her looking over it while she listened.
“She’s going to run with them, isn’t she?” Ironhand asked him.
Gregory smiled politely but stayed silent. It was a little petty, but he was doing as commanded.
“You can answer our questions,” Ironhand said.
“General?” Gregory asked.
“Go ahead, but only our questions,” Ruzi said.
“She will. I would bet that she’ll also break things you don’t expect. After all, if this was war, she’d find every advantage she could.”
Zhu chuckled. “Any of us would. I’ll be interested to see what she thinks will work. None of the other magi have treated this like war.”
“That is what this is for, isn’t it, sir? To get us ready for the conflicts the empire will face?”
“It is,” Ruzi nodded. “But very few ever take the stance you have taken.”
The whistle blew, and Yukiko’s unit jogged forward. They carried their entire kit, which Gregory hadn’t seen others do. One of her squads— clearly her scouting squad— rushed forward, intent on learning and marking things for the others.
“All their gear?” Ironhand murmured. “She does indeed mean for this to be war.”
“Scouts,” Zhu murmured. “That’ll make the staff scramble to get things set before they get to them.”
“They’re pacing themselves and letting the scouts work,” Ruzi added. “This isn’t a sprint to finish, but a controlled unit ready to adapt. Shrewd of her to do that.”
Gregory just smiled at the compliments for his wife. His gaze didn’t waver from her as he waited to see her act. It came after the wall; the course looped to one of the trapdoor platforms that were marked as wounding. Her scouts reached it, then slowly began to cross before Yukiko was suddenly beside them. She made them back off, then ducked into one of their shadows and vanished. A few moments later, she was back and ordered them to run on.
“What?” Ironhand sat forward. “That’s wrong.”
Gregory just grinned, sure he knew what’d happened.
“None of the doors triggered… what happened to the staff manning it?” Zhu muttered.
“Pettit, explain,” Ruzi said, staring at the course.
“She subdued the staff member, locked the doors closed, then ordered her men on.”
“But that is… beautiful,” Ironhand started to object, then laughed with the last word. “She defeated it and took a hostage.”
Yukiko had vanished and reappeared again when her men reached the obstacle. A fox eurtik bound in rope was handed to two men, who pulled out a stretcher. They lashed the eurtik to it, then continued after the others.
“Oh, she is a devious one,” Zhu chuckled. “You’ll have a rough life, Pettit.”
“No, sir,” Gregory said softly. “She’ll make my life better in every way.”
The next trapdoor obstacle came up, this one was marked as death. Yukiko was suddenly there— she barked orders to her men, who pulled out canvas and held it up as they inched forward. The shadow of the canvas fell on the platform, and Yukiko ordered them on.
Ruzi snorted as he watched the men walking on the shadows created by the magi. “She can’t hold that for long.”
Gregory grinned, as he knew how much aether Yukiko had to work with. They were technically adepts, not the initiates that most were. Add in the rings that held magus-levels of aether and Yukiko could probably do much more than they expected.
Once her men were across, they staked the cloth in place so the shadow covered the platform. With that done, the scouts rushed on while Yukiko waited for her unit to catch up.
“With what we’ve seen so far, I’m going to push for her unit to get the commendation,” Zhu said.
“Agreed. That kind of resourcefulness and the way her men respond to her gets my approval,” Ironhand nodded.
“Let’s see how they finish,” Ruzi said, but it was clear he was impressed.
Yukiko’s scouts paused short of the footmen, who were the last obstacle for her unit. They pulled off their packs and began to prepare. As they hadn’t crossed the line, the footmen couldn’t do anything.
“What are they doing, Pettit?” Zhu asked.
“I’m not positive, sir, but I would say those men are about to hate life.”
“Why? Speculate, if you must,” Ruzi ordered.
“Powders likely to blind and cause irritation. They’ll be thrown just before the unit reaches the area.”
Ironhand nodded. “Any advantage is an advantage. Your men have the same items?”
“Unknown, sir, but we have things to create small bursts of smoke.”
As Yukiko’s squad came jogging up, the scouts launched their improvised grenades. The footmen blocked with their shields, but that just shattered the thin clay jugs, spreading the powder. If they’d just backed up, the irritants wouldn’t have been as bad.
Yukiko’s men tied cloth around their noses, then rushed in. The fight was over quickly. Her men were skilled and weren’t the ones who’d taken deep breaths of the powder. Ruzi grunted as he watched the massacre.
“The men will be eager to thrash the next set of guards,” Ruzi said tightly. “We’ll need to switch squads, but even then, the backups will likely be angry.”
“Agreed,” Zhu said.
Yukiko’s last two men, the ones carrying the eurtik, crossed the finish line. Ruzi glanced at the sandglass, making a notation on his notes. The others did the same, and Gregory smirked; Yukiko had clearly bested the others he’d seen for time.
Ruzi leaned back as the staff started to get the course back in order. He sent word for the footmen to rotate out, as well. “Your wife will be watched, Pettit. It’s been decades since a magi did something similar.”
“Wait for Jenn, sir,” Gregory chuckled.
“Oh, I am,” Ironhand said. “She was going to join my clan until she suddenly joined yours. Did you marry her to bring her with you?”
“No, sir. She followed because we were friends. We didn’t marry for a half-year after, and that only happened because Yukiko asked me to consider Jenn as more than a friend.”
“A strong woman. Not only devious, but secure enough to share you with your friend?” Zhu asked, rubbing his chin. “If you ever get into an argument, I’d run.”
“I would ask for mercy, not run, sir,” Gregory rebuffed him gently. “Yuki will forgive, though she doesn’t forget. Running would only make it much worse.”
Yukiko untied the fox eurtik, clearly having a conversation before the pair began to walk toward the judges.
Ruzi sat forward when they came close enough to talk. “What are your terms, Magi?”
“I doubt a single eurtik rates highly enough for the requests I’d make, General, so I’ll ask for nothing but goodwill later,” Yukiko replied. “I do feel bad for doing what I did to him. Do not fault him; he had no chance to stop me.”
“I do not blame a slave for not fighting a magi. It would have meant his death,” Ruzi said. “Go back to your station,” he addressed those words to the slave before turning his gaze back to Yukiko. “You broke our course.”
“War is like that, sir,” Yukiko replied, her eyes flickering to Gregory. “My husband told me on our first day that this was war, not a simple test. I took him at his word.”
“Hmm… You broke no rules, so it’ll stand. You may go.”
Yukiko bowed formally, her left hand cupping her right fist. “Thank you, sir.”
As she left, Zhu watched her go with a pensive gaze. “She wouldn’t consider making an obscene amount of money, would she?”
“No, sir. Aether’s Guard is our home,” Gregory replied.
“Even with your elder gone?” Ironhand asked.
“He passed his legacy on to us, sir.”
“You wait for Aether to return?” Ruzi asked.
“Shouldn’t all magi, sir? Even the emperor is likely waiting for the day Aether comes back.” Gregory said it as if he never thought it could be taken badly.
“I’m sure he does…” Ruzi said slowly.
“If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be back,” Zhu sighed as he stood up. “Bodily needs.”
“Hmm, a solid point,” Ironhand grunted. “It has been hours.”
~*~*~
Gregory barely managed to refrain from laughing when Jenn’s turn came. Her first obstacle was the wall; she broke it. Instead of having her men climb it, she cut into it with her sword, then snapped it so it fell over. While the judges sat in shocked silence, she ordered her men to pick the wall up and carry it with them as they marched on.
The broken wall was used to cover every trap obstacle— her men could walk easily over them, then retrieve the wall and carry on. It was abandoned when it came to the balance obstacles. Finally, her men fought the footmen. Gregory winced as Jenn led them into that fight, her body blazing with aether. The footmen didn’t want to engage her, causing their ranks to disrupt enough that her men had the advantage.
Picking up the wounded to carry them out, Jenn also roped the footmen who’d surrendered, leading them out. She wasn’t as fast as Yukiko and had literally broken parts of the course, but she’d also captured half of the three squads who stood to oppose her.
The judges were shocked, but Zhu had chortled the entire time. He was impressed with how aggressive the short, slightly-built magi was. Once again, he warned Gregory to be careful about upsetting his wives.
When Jenn led the captured men to the general, she looked proud. “Sir, I have men to ransom back to you,” she addressed him first.
“Yes. What did you want in ransom, Magi?”
“I’d ask for my husband to be released to his men,” Jenn said.
“No,” Ironhand said flatly. “He is worth much more than nine footmen. I do not value their lives lowly, either, but we’ve seen what he can do and cannot allow him on the course.”
Jenn’s eyes went to Gregory, who gave a small shrug. “Very well. Deduction of time for each man released.”
Zhu leaned over to whisper his agreement with that. Ironhand nodded slowly, but looked at Ruzi.
“You and your wife were unorthodox, Magi,” Ruzi said. “I will allow for less time from your run for my men back. I have a question, though: if we let Pettit run with his men, what would happen?”
“He’d shatter every record in place, sir,” Jenn replied confidently.
“Without knowing how you and your wife did?” Zhu asked.
“Yes, sir. Our husband has only lost a single fight that mattered. That was to me, when I had to beat him to get my deepest wish. Even then, I had to use tactics I wasn’t proud of to pull it off.”
“What if he went in without foresight?” Ironhand asked.
Jenn paused, considering for a few long seconds while the staff unbound the footmen. “He’d do better than many, sir. He might not match Yuki and I, but that’s only because we had our aether and you’d deprive him of his. Even then, I’d put him no lower than fifth, but think he’d still place third.”
“Loyalty is valuable,” Ruzi said. “Join your men. Your run is at an end.”
“Yes, sir.” Jenn bowed formally, then turned on her heel and marched away.
“I almost want to let him,” Zhu chuckled. “We do have a set of the Kroggian cuffs.”
Ironhand grimaced. “I’d not willingly put a magi in those unless he was a traitor to the empire.”
“They’re here only to stop problems. Gladly, they haven’t been needed.”
“Only because Shun’s brat was pulled from troop training,” Zhu snorted. “Almost started a war with his actions.”
Ruzi’s hand made a chopping motion, and Zhu cut off. “This is not the place for that discussion again.”
“Yes, sir,” Zhu shrugged. “Not like Pettit has any love for Shun.”
“Even more so, then,” Ruzi sighed. “Pettit, go take a small break. When you come back, it’ll be about time for your men to show us what you taught them.”
“Yes, sir,” Gregory said. Standing, he bowed to the trio before he left.
