Moral Stand (Aether’s Revival Book 7)

Nothing of note happened on their second day off in Coldwood, nor for the first two days of their patrol. On the morning of the third day, Gregory watched the future report from his sergeants with foresight. With that knowledge, he replayed the future with what he would do differently, and the report at the end of the day was much better.

Slipping into meditation, Gregory chewed slowly on the jerky he’d put in his mouth. He’d stocked up on the best bane jerky he could get during his trip north, leaving him with a solid year’s worth for both him and Rafiq.

The cavern came into focus around him, his aether flame burning merrily. Thinking about what the day was going to bring, he tried to get it to show him a simulation of what it might look like, but the flame didn’t change to figures.

“Not able to? Fine, how about my last wakizashi spar with Jenn and Yuki,” Gregory told it. The flames shifted into three people that began to spar. Gregory watched the playback intently, looking for ways to improve his own skill.

The flames eventually became sparks drifting to his channels. Standing up, he bowed to the flame. “Thank you for helping me grow.”

He came out of the cavern just as the fourth bell chimed. Getting to his feet, he left his room to find Basal and Rafiq playing a game of Go. He traded greetings with them as he came over to watch the game, which was about to end.

“You’re improving, Basal,” Rafiq said as he won the game. “I just have decades more experience than you.”

“I hope to win one before I become an adult,” Basal said, a hint of dejection and frustration in his tone.

“Kind of how I feel when I play against Yuki,” Gregory said, “or Shogi against Jenn. They win the vast majority of their respective favorite games.”

Basal glanced at Gregory while he collected the board to put it away. “You never get upset, Greg?”

“Not upset. Mildly frustrated, as I’d like to improve enough to challenge them more often. But they might feel the same when I use my naginata to spar against them.”

Basal chuckled at the thought. “Does anyone beat you with that weapon?”

“Not lately,” Gregory admitted, waiting to collect the tent when Basal finished. “Gin and Egil used to regularly.”

“Your last loss was over a year ago,” Rafiq added.

“Not likely to lose one this year.”

“If you did, we’d all be in a bad place,” Rafiq said mildly, “especially with what you’ve told me you’ll be doing.”

“Fair. I can’t lose a fight when people of greater power will be against me. I have too many people relying on me.”

When they stepped out of Gregory’s tent, he absorbed it into his ring. Everyone was up and getting ready for breakfast already. He went from tent to tent, absorbing what he could as people finished. When fifth bell came, he was sitting with everyone else while breakfast was being served.

Rafiq joined him a moment later. “It has been collected.”

“I’m glad we found a way around that,” Gregory said. “I still remember the confusion that first time I absorbed the timekeeper.”

“I never made a note in my records about that. I feel that rings with that ability aren’t widely known about.”

“My thanks again, Rafiq.”

“I do the little I can.”

“Basal, after breakfast, gather my command staff for me, please,” Gregory said before turning to Dot. “Thank you, Dot.”

“Of course, sir,” Dot smiled, setting their food down.

“I’ll do it,” Basal nodded, waiting for his turn to get some soup from the pot.

~*~*~

When the sergeants and Davis came to the table a bit later, Gregory explained what his foresight had shown him. “I want everyone to be prepared for it. It’s after midday, but that’s all I know, which brings me to the second point I wanted to make. When we head back from Icelake to Coldwood, we’ll be marking the path. This way, we’ll be able to better break down when and where we’re attacked as we patrol.”

“How do you want to do that?” Davis asked. “Carve the trees?”

“I think a mark every hour,” Glasson suggested. “Simple numbers from Icelake to Coldwood. One for the day, then one for the hour out of town.”

“That sounds good,” Gregory nodded.

“We can mark the other side of the patrol route from Coldwood to Icelake,” Milton said.

“One set of marks will be sufficient. This way, there’s less confusion,” Townson said. “It’ll always be the third set, fourth hour, no matter which way we go.”

“Maybe use colors for the days and numbers for the hours?” Bunson suggested. “Blue four is easy to note no matter which way we’re going.”

“We’ll do that,” Gregory said, pointing to Bunson. “Color and number. White, yellow, orange, green, blue to follow the magi pattern. The first letter of the color should be enough.”

“Starting on the way back so we don’t make mistakes,” Davis said. “We can mark both sides of the path. This way there’s a redundancy, just in case the first tree has problems.”

“Good call. Let your men know that today, they’ll be fighting bane wolves,” Gregory said. “We won’t have the injuries we would’ve had if I hadn’t looked ahead.”

“Something the men will be especially glad for,” Donald chuckled as he saluted.

“The bonuses of working with a foresight magi,” Glasson laughed.

~*~*~

It was just after the fourteenth hour when a pack of bane wolves came rushing out of the trees. The men had been waiting, so there was no surprise to stop them from reacting. They turned as a unit, bringing their naginatas to bear on the animals.

The alpha of the pack had a trick, its howl ringing out. Gregory had felt a similar howl back on his age day— muscles froze up as the bane beast’s aura rolled over the men. Gregory let his aether exude out, kicking Legacy to bolt to where his men were. The moment his aura touched them, the men regained their ability to move.

“Dot, take the reins!” Gregory yelled, getting off Legacy.

The cheetah eurtik was there a moment later, grabbing the reins and leading the horse toward the wagon. “Come on, Legacy! Come on, boy!”

“Hold strong. As soon as you give me a gap, I’ll take the alpha,” Gregory told his men.

The bane wolves didn’t slow when they came in, making it far easier for the men; they only had to ensure their weapons were ready to impale the beasts. The few that tried to go wide met the other squads, who’d turned to protect the flanks. With it being two men per wolf, it was a slaughter.

The moment the wolves started to die, Gregory rushed past his men. His naginata was out as he closed on the much-larger alpha bane wolf. The alpha howled again, then backed off when it felt the edge of Gregory’s aura. It felt something stronger than it, and now, it was afraid, especially as its pack was being butchered. It hadn’t reached its rank by running, so instead of fleeing, it rushed at Gregory, its eyes burning with red flame.

Foresight and resonance came to Gregory as he met the alpha. He faked a rising slash, letting the alpha dart around the side of it. Stopping the first, he shifted to a sweep back, causing the wolf to drop under his blade. The tip of an ear went flying away, making it yip. It started to rise only to scramble back as the naginata dove for its neck.

Every instinct in its core screamed at it to flee, that this man was too much for it. Even as it tried to make a break for it, the naginata cut into its flesh. Every action it took was met by the blade— it couldn’t grasp how it was always there, perfectly in place to stop it from leaving.

Gregory fell into the flow of resonance. He spun, thrust, and slashed his weapon as his foresight led him. The alpha was slowly cut apart until it collapsed, dead at his feet. Snapping the naginata to the side, most of the blood flew off the blade. He summoned a cloth to wipe it clean before putting the naginata and the cloth away.

Kneeling down, he absorbed the bane beast into his ring. “You chose the wrong prey. I’ll put you to the best use I can.” When he stood, he wasn’t sure why he’d said that, but he knew it was something he’d said in a previous life.

“Sir, no wounded. One of the men did get bitten, but his armor covered his leg, so no teeth punctured him,” Davis announced when Gregory returned to the others. “The alpha?”

“In my ring. I’ll collect these, too. The meat can be turned into jerky in Icelake. I’ll keep the cores for my enchantments, and the pelts can be sold off. The money from them will be divided up as a bonus for the men.”

“Glad we had warning. How did you break the howl, sir?”

“My own aether. Magi can exude it, as you’ve felt before. My aura clashed with the alpha’s just like magi will do sometimes. Mine was stronger.”

“But we didn’t feel pressure from you at all,” Davis said slowly.

“I’ve worked on how my aura affects other people. Not many magi can do that.”

“None outside the spirit path can,” Rafiq said, bringing Legacy over. “I wanted to weigh in on the subject: Gregory and his wives can do more with their auras than many magi of the magus or even master tiers because of their paths.”

“Another perk of following our magi,” Glasson said. “How many would have been injured if not for your foresight, sir?”

Gregory knew why Glasson was asking. “Three, with one of them having a severely injured hand.”

“Get your weapons and armor clean, men, then form ranks,” Davis said. “We’ll be leaving shortly.”

“Thanks, Rafiq. I’ll take him in just a moment; I want to collect the wolves. More bane jerky will do us good.”

“If someone in Icelake or Coldwood can convert it correctly. I would think it odd if there wasn’t, especially with so many bane beasts in the area.”

“My thoughts, exactly,” Gregory said. “I’m going to ask Barny to cook one of the hearts tonight after dinner.”

“Split it?” Rafiq asked.

“That was my plan.”

“I thank you in advance, then,” Rafiq smiled.