“More than a little,” Hamath muttered. “I don’t see how it doesn’t bother you.”
I shrugged. “It did in the beginning. But at this point, Balak can have all the glory he wants so long as it means ending the war. Gods, it’s been ten years since I’ve seen Lasha and the kids. Four since I’ve gotten a letter from them thanks to the army’s mandatory silence with outside communication.”
Hamath grunted. “Sorry. It’s just that you should be the one leading us, not him.”
“I’ve got enough to worry about already. I don’t want to think about looking after the tens of thousands Balak has to.”
He took a deep breath. “Speaking of worrying, I came over here because we have a bit of a problem.”
I stopped and closed my eyes. “What is it now?”
“Your sister caught a new recruit in unit three roughing up one of the camp whores.”
I pressed my lips together, shaking my head as I opened my eyes. “Let me guess. She couldn’t let things go.”
“You know Ava.”
I did. “What happened?”
“She confronted the recruit, and they had words. He didn’t know not to argue with her. By the time I got there she had his pants around his ankles and some sort of spell squeezing at his crotch. I swear I’m going to have nightmares about that. It was all swollen and turning purple.” He shivered. “I got her to stop, and the healers said the boy would recover, but it’ll take weeks. Unit three is going to be short-handed until then. I managed to smooth things over as best I could, but their unit leader is calling for your sister’s head. Those she’s wronged in the past are supporting him. They plan to take it all the way to the Council of High Mages this time.”
“Did you tell her any of that?”
“Gods, no. You know she won’t listen to anyone but you. As worked up as she was, I was worried she might do the same to me as she did to the recruit. I calmed her down a bit and then let her go.”
I sighed. “See what I mean, Hamath? You want me to manage an army when it’s a struggle to keep my own unit in line.”
“Not your whole unit. Just Ava. And you only have one sister.”
“Thankfully.” I handed the general’s orders to Hamath. “Here, start getting the others ready while I talk to her.” I nodded to the full moon. “Make sure everyone’s mudded up.”
Hamath swore. “I was worried you’d say that.”
* * *
I found Ava pacing back and forth at the edge of the forest outside of camp, stomping the ground with such determination it looked like she was trying to put out a fire. The guards on patrol made sure to give her a wide berth.
Without her cloak, moonlight shimmered off her black leathers. She ran a thin hand through short, brown hair, and rubbed the back of her neck—a tell-tale sign that her run-in with the recruit bothered her more than usual. When I saw the faintest hints of sorcery crackling at her long fingertips I knew Hamath did right by letting me talk to her. She was having a hard time controlling herself.
Luckily, I didn’t have to worry about any serious injury if she lost her temper. I was one of the rare cases of someone born with a resistance to sorcery. Each of our special units had someone resistant among them. Considering the crap Ava tried to pull on me as kids, it’s a good thing I had the gift. Otherwise, I would have ended up missing a limb or worse a long time ago. It was also a good thing for others near me in battle as one of the nice things my resistance afforded me was the ability to draw sorcery out of others injured by some spell.
“Well?” I asked as I came upon her.
She stopped and gave me a bitter look. Tall for a woman, she could almost give me that look at eye level. “Well, what? I’m ready. Lay into me if that’s what you’re here for.”
“I’d like to know what happened first.”
“Hamath didn’t tell you?”
“I want to hear your side.”
She put her hands on her hips. “Some idiot wanted to prove how tough he was by beating on one of the camp followers.”
“Whores.”
“What?”
“Call them what they are. Unlike the merchants that come and go, the only thing she was peddling was what’s between her legs.”