A Map Under Guard
The command post had been a quartermaster’s storehouse before the northern front began to break. Its walls still carried old hooks and shelf marks, though the shelves now held signal lamps, field maps, and boxes of ammunition. A guard stood at each door. Teren brought Vael inside between them, with Aren following at Sella’s request.
A long table divided the room. On one side sat Marshal Cadrin, commander of the northern batteries, and two staff officers. Sella stood near the map board, her signed delay order folded in her breast pocket. Teren remained close enough to Vael to seize his arm if ordered.
“Captain Venn,” Cadrin said. “You signed a delay, crossed a live battery line with a mixed column, and brought a Demon General into my post. I have the record. I want the reason.”
“The wounded were still moving,” Sella replied. “The passage was theirs to finish.”
Cadrin’s gaze moved to Vael. “And you?”
“The northern route is failing,” Vael said. “The galleries above it were already splitting. I moved the wounded before the passage closed.”
One of the staff officers put a finger on the map. “Your forces occupied the galleries.”
“They were there when the ground began to fail.”
“You expect us to believe you built a route under our front for evacuation.”
“I expect you to look at the people who came through it.” Vael’s voice stayed level. “Human and demon. Ask them what they saw.”
Cadrin’s eyes narrowed. He had listened to men lie under worse circumstances, Aren thought. He was weighing each answer for what it might cost him to accept it.
“You knew where the route led,” Cadrin said. “Where did your army withdraw?”
Vael looked at the map instead of the Marshal. “Away from the fractures.”
“Direction.”
“I will give you the ground that is breaking. I won’t draw you a map of my forces.”
Teren shifted his stance. Vael didn’t look at him. Aren could see the bruising where the custody straps had pressed against Vael’s wrists. Nothing in the room suggested the Marshal would mistake refusal for restraint.
Cadrin turned to Sella. “Your report says the refuge held human and demon casualties. Who can confirm the route was used for evacuation?”
“Odran,” Sella said. “He found the service stair. He’s with the wounded.”
“Bring him.”
A runner went out. Cadrin turned back to Aren. “You were present?”
Next
Odran will guide a guarded sapper team toward the route’s upper access, while Vael’s account remains under interrogation and the northern ground continues to fail.