Moral Stand (Aether’s Revival Book 7)

Gregory hadn’t meant to take up so much time shopping, but it was past midday when he made it to the guards’ office. He exchanged words with the man on the exterior door then went up to the commander’s office.

Entering after being told to do so, Gregory gave the commander a smile. The man behind the desk had stood up, allowing Gregory to size him up. Built like his old friend Gunnar in Alturis, the commander of Coldwood was massive. Thickly-muscled arms, broad-chested, and towering at a few inches short of seven feet, the man cut an imposing image. What Gregory hadn’t expected were the sharpened antlers he had, nor his massive nose.

“Magi, I wasn’t expecting you.”

“Adept Gregory Pettit, sir,” Gregory saluted before closing the door. “I wanted to meet you.”

“Commander Dylan Roberts, and as you can clearly see, I have moose eurtik blood from my grandmother.” His tone had an edge to it, as if waiting for a comment.

“A pleasure to meet you, sir. Do you have a few minutes to talk?”

A hint of uncertainty touched Roberts’ eyes before he grunted. “Have a seat, Magi. What brings you in?”

“As I said, I wanted to meet you and talk for a bit,” Gregory said, taking the offered chair. “There isn’t a problem… not currently, at least.”

“It’s unusual to have the magi visit if my guards aren’t causing trouble.”

“I’ll be between here and Icelake for the year, and I like to meet the people I’ll be working with.”

Roberts sat back in his chair, his eyes slightly narrowing. “I see… none of the three adepts I’ve had in my town have ever come to me for anything but problems.”

“If I have an issue, I’ll still bring it to you, sir, but I’m just hoping for information today. I have a unit of partial panther eurtik and a few other part eurtiks in my squads. I was hoping you could point me to the best places for them to relax? The Groomed Mane in Icelake set a pretty high bar.”

Roberts snorted. “Lowen’s place is the best for someone with mixed blood in the entire north of the empire. There are two more that are welcoming, but they’re not as… pleasant as Lowen’s. One is in the worst part of town, but the people have never given my men a moment of grief. With magi guards…? I’m not sure what will happen. The other is closer to your barracks, but at times, people of less-than-full human heritage get harassed by the locals.”

“I’ll take both names. My men will not start trouble, Commander. They’ll walk away before they let something blow up on them.”

“Hmm…” Roberts murmured, not buying that sentence.

“Their record is spotless so far, but with some of what I’ve seen from the locals, it might not stay that way. I can say with certainty though that they will never throw the first punch.”

“Fair. I’m sure you’ve had to push them into line before.”

“No. I’ve never had to crack down on them. My lieutenant says they act as an elite army unit more than magi guards, sir. They picked up the medal for elite magi guards before we arrived here.”

Roberts’ posture relaxed. “Did they?”

Gregory held up a hand, then summoned his medals. He rarely wore them, as the weight tugged on his kimono. “We garnered the top spots in the tournament.”

Roberts sat forward, looking at the medals on display before slowly sitting back. “Pettit… why don’t you wear those?”

“They tug on my haori; it annoys me. If we did full dress uniforms, I would wear them.” Gregory pulled the medals back into his ring. “My men do wear theirs, but it ends up under their armor most of the time.”

“That was the humblest bragging I’ve ever seen.”

“Not my intent,” Gregory said. “I was just trying to calm your doubts about my men causing trouble.”

“The place in the rough part of town is called Cracked Clay, and the one where they might get harassed is Liquid Courage. Anyone in town could point you in their general direction.”

“Thank you, Commander.” Gregory paused. “I want to ask, and please don’t take this the wrong way, but do you sharpen those yourself?”

Roberts reached up to touch one of his pointed antlers. “My wife does. I’ve had to use them a few times in my life.”

“I’d think just seeing you lower your head would cause some to stop.”

Roberts’ lips twitched. “Four times, I’ve had men give up before goring them.”

“How long until your twentieth?” Gregory asked.

“Past that. I’m on my twenty-fourth year. I got this posting at my request after hitting twenty; I wanted to come home. The town’s grown up a lot since I was a brat.”

Gregory smiled. “I envy you the ability to go home, sir. I myself will likely never return, or not for fifty years. It’d be too painful.”

Roberts blinked for a moment before nodding. “Friends and family all older with you looking much the same as you do now… magi can have it rough that way, I hear.”

“My seniors in the clan have both said the same. I’ve made up my mind to not go back unless it’s right after my magus posting in Krogga.”

“Krogga? Your magus posting is in Krogga?”

“It was a reward for winning a tournament with Buldoun.”

“That’s not a reward. That’d be like saying this posting is a reward.”

“I requested it, as it will also let my wives join me there for their magus postings, too.”

It took Gregory some time to explain his multiple wives, then how they’d all ended up promised the Kroggian embassy posting, but Roberts listened with rapt attention the entire time.

“I’ll wish you the best of luck on it, but I hope you’re not looking past this year,” Roberts said.

“I’m not. We’ve done a full loop so far; it was quiet, minus the first trip to Icelake. That was deplorable.”

It took Gregory longer to tell him about the camps, even giving Roberts his last report on conditions.

“I’ll make sure this gets passed along,” Roberts grunted. “Trida… isn’t going to rock boats. I doubt either magi cares enough to make sure it gets sent on, either.”

“Thank you, sir. I have another question,” Gregory said slowly. He had a good feeling about Roberts, but he let foresight spool out before he smiled. “Have you seen any slave paperwork?”

Roberts’ frown was thunderous, but his voice was mild, “No. The magus in town has told me repeatedly that ‘it isn’t my place.’” His jaw set. “Not my place to enforce those laws. It was for the magi to enforce.”

Gregory shook his head. “Using their position to disregard the laws doesn’t make what they said true, Commander. If people were to be pushed on that point, where would you stand?”

Roberts’ eyes sharpened on Gregory for a long moment before he asked, “Why? Why would you? What would you gain from it?”

“The laws being upheld,” Gregory said, then sat forward. “Who watches the watchers, sir? If magi break the laws, who will hold them accountable? Besides… I have personal feelings on parts of the subject. I didn’t mention it when I told you about my wives, but two of them have eurtik blood.”

Roberts rocked back at the passion in Gregory’s tone, then stood up. “I will back you, Adept. Maybe it will see me drummed out of service, but dammit, it has to be done.”

“I’ll push on the legal fronts I can. It’ll upset the slavers, their backers, and the two magi who are openly defying the laws,” Gregory said before standing. “Hopefully, they focus on me. I just hoped to find a single man of rank who would stand his ground if needed.”

Roberts paused, considering something before he nodded. “Trida might in time, too. He doesn’t like rocking boats, but he also wishes the laws were upheld. He won’t join you quickly, but if you can hold the line, he’ll likely step up beside you.”

Gregory smiled. “Today gives me hope, Commander. We might not be able to stop the slave trade, but we can make sure they follow the damned laws, at least.”

Roberts held out his massive hand. “Maybe Aether will speak to the emperor about it. I think it would take that for anything to change.”

“I think Aether would have to come back for it to happen, but my clan holds to the belief he will.”

“I’ll give that a prayer,” Roberts said as they shook hands. “Good luck, Adept Pettit. I’ll pray for your success, but I’ll make sure I’m ready to act.”

“Thank you, Commander. It won’t be for a while yet, but when the time comes, it makes me breathe easier to know I have an able man to stand beside me.”

~*~*~

Making it back to the barracks, Gregory went to find the sisters. “Dot? Polka?” The sound of hurried movement came from inside the sisters’ room, and Gregory frowned in confusion. “Is this a bad time?”

Polka opened the door. “No, sir! How can I help you?”

Gregory caught sight of Barny inside the room, and his eyebrows went up. “I… uh… have your things.”

“Thank you, sir,” Polka said. Her hands shook slightly as she waited to take the items.

“Polka, Barny, if it’s consensual between the two of you, it’s fine,” Gregory nearly blurted out. “It’s your lives; no one else’s.”

Barny gave Gregory a relieved smile. “I thought you’d feel that way, sir. We were both worried, though.”

Polka leaned against the doorframe in relief. “Oh, thank Aether… I was terrified you’d ask us to stop or split us up, sir.”

“No. Love’s a wonderful thing.” He began to summon out the products Polka and Dot had asked for. “Here you go.”

Polka took them, making two trips to gather them all. “This will make things nicer. Thank you, again, sir. We’d be happy to pay for it.”

“No need. The shop here in town you should go to is called Furry Needs. The shopkeeper’s part-fox eurtik and very understanding.”

“I’ll make sure to see him next time we come to Coldwood.”

“Where’s Dot?”

“Said she was going to play Go with Basal, sir,” Barny said.

“Okay, then. See you for dinner,” Gregory told them.

“Thank you, sir,” Polka smiled.

“Is Rafiq upstairs?”

“I think he was helping Hanz with his numbers and letters, sir.”

“I’ll go give him his things, then. Have a good day.” He quickly left them to their own devices.

~*~*~

Dinner came and went, and afterward, Gregory called a meeting with his officers. He filled them in on his talk with Commander Roberts— when he’d finished, the six men looked thoughtful.

“We’ll start pushing for the laws, aiming for here first. We’ll have Roberts backing us up on enforcement. It’ll cause pushback after the second time, I’m sure.”

“What will you do when the magus objects, sir?” Sergeant Donald asked, his wolf ears twitching.

“Stand up for the laws— I’ll be in the right. Any action taken by the magus will be an attack on a magi upholding the laws,” Gregory said grimly.

“Sir, we all have faith in you,” Sergeant Milton said. “But, can you go toe-to-toe with a magus?”

“If he attacks me, I’ll be standing at the end of it. That might bring other troubles, but I will defend myself. I’m sure it’ll cause ripples throughout the empire.”

“That might be an understatement, sir,” Sergeant Bunson snorted, his boar heritage causing it to be pronounced. “No matter what comes, sir, your guards will be with you.”

“If rogue elements try to get to you, we’ll stop them,” Sergeant Glasson added, his black tail twitching.

“If it’s magi, leave them to me,” Gregory said. “I’d expect verbal pushback, reminders to respect my elders. When I refuse to back down, that’s when other steps will be taken. We have a month or two before things get dicey.”

“With a foresight magi on our side, I’m pretty sure we can bet to win,” Sergeant Townson smirked.

Laughter filled the room for a moment.

“Sir, you never have to worry about us,” Davis said. “Even if the worst comes, we know you’ll be doing all you can. Laws need to be upheld. We can’t stop slavery, but we can make them follow the rules.”

“Let whispers start getting to the men,” Gregory said. “Keep it in the unit, but let them know that we have a path to walk.”

“We will,” Davis said. “Do you think we’ll continue to have easy patrols?”

“I’d love for that to be the case, but the odds say no. As I’ve been doing, I’ll be looking forward each morning to that night’s reports so I’ll have an idea of what we’ll be running into ahead of time.”

“The men will appreciate that,” Milton said.

“Peace of mind knowing that any major problems will not be an unknown,” Bunson agreed. “Doesn’t stop an idiot from breaking a toe, though.”

“How’s that healing for him?” Gregory asked.

“Fine, sir. The poultice helped. He understood that you’re keeping the bigger things back for when we really need them.”

“That’s everything. I’m sure your men are waiting for you so they can head out,” Gregory chuckled. “Dismissed.”

Davis hung back, shutting the door after the sergeants left. “Sir, level with me. How far will we push?”

“All the way against the people here,” Gregory said. “They’ll uphold the laws. If the worst comes and others are sent up here… we’ll cross that bridge when it comes.”

Davis exhaled slowly. “Yes, sir. This will get you a lot of backlash from those who’ve been abusing the system.”

“All they have to do is follow the laws. I’m sure one group out of both towns will do it just to tempt us to push them. As much as I won’t want to, if the paperwork is in order, I have to let them go.”

“Yes, sir,” Davis said. “Sir, I’ll never be prouder than serving this unit.”

Gregory saluted Davis, who returned it, before the lieutenant the room. Taking a seat at his desk, Gregory leaned back in his chair. He wondered just how far things would go. If he pushed, he should be able to catch a glimpse of the most probable future. But would it matter? That question floated in his mind. No… no it won’t. They have to make their own choices to follow the laws or not. If not, I’ll do my duty.

Summoning the Magi Square Rafiq had made for him, he began to work on it. The problems would come one way or another, and he would meet them. He was sure his wives would agree with him, and that eased any doubts he had.