“His lordship has not yet risen, you will wait accordingly,” Kai’s voice carried up the stairs.


    In truth I’d been up for a couple hours, my leg bounced up and down nervously.


    “Kai, I swear to the gods I will rip you apart to get up there, let me through!” Freya''s shouts carried up the stairs.


    The full body shaking had stopped quickly this time, only lasting about a  minute. Consigning people to death would do that to you.


    I finally rose from the desk, donning the same clothes as yesterday. My hair was brushed back, looking presentable enough. It was important to present a level of tidiness as  the lord of The Sanctum.


    “It’s alright Kai, let her up,” I called.


    “Very well, his lordship-” Kai began before she was cut off, Freya no doubt pushing past her to climb the stairs.


    I looked up when she entered, her blonde hair was disheveled, she must’ve been sleeping in late today. Her eyes were red with frustration and recently dried tears. She stomped over to my desk, slamming her fist on the surface.


    “If he comes back with bullet holes in him I’m gonna put just as many through you,” she snarled at me, jabbing a finger in my direction.


    “You shall not address his lordship as such, it is-” I held my hand up to stop Kai.


    It was important that I kept my composure here.


    “I did not know that this would have happened, or I would have sent them better prepared,” I explained.


    “Why didn’t they have a security detail? Protocol states that anyone traveling outside of the Sanctum’s limits, especially for looting purposes, needs to have a security detail. The only way they got sent out there with no extra protection was if they were acting on their own accord, or you sent them.”


    Her words were heavy, laced with venom and anger.


    But they were true. I made the choice to send them out, without any Enforcers for protection. The scavenge teams could handle themselves, but they were a scrappy bunch, not trained like the Enforcers.


    My mind flashed back to the crackling of my radio stirring me from my sleep. Patrick’s shouts over the radio, a distress call, they were taking fire outside the gun store. They were pinned down, contemplating retreat. But I wouldn’t let them.


    “Patrick, you hold your position dammit. I’m dispatching Enforcers, coming fast. Keep your head down and don’t die!” The words haunted me.


    The pause before his reply, “Copy, holding position.”


    I could hear gunshots in the background, shouts and directives from the scavs.


    I sent a group of Enforcers in one of the reinforced diesel trucks we still had. The sun flares killed the majority of modern engines, but diesel engines could still function. If the trucks were old enough and didn’t have any modern electronics we could still use them, but fuel was scarce.


    I wanted to go myself but I knew it wasn’t my place. Instead, I dispatched one of our most seasoned teams. The Blackguard, a particularly savage group, most of which were ex-military. They were one of the most experienced in terms of fighting, especially in the apocalyptic times. They fought under me for the entirety of the struggle for Millhaven.


    The reinforced truck they’d gone out in had a canopy over the bed with reinforced steel and slits for windows. Impervious to most rounds as long as they were far enough away.


    It would’ve been safer to have Patrick pull back, but those resources were too valuable.


    Why didn’t I send anyone with him? Why did I let them go alone? Of course it was a setup, they must have let Kai snoop around and waited for the rest of the group to come by. But who could set something like this up? It couldn’t be Wally, he was to the north and this was happening in the south.


    But moreover, how did Kai not notice anything out of the ordinary? She was one of the keenest amongst us. A small glimpse of distrust thrust itself forward, but I quickly dismissed the notion. Kai wouldn’t do that, right? No, she wouldn’t.


    So what the hell really went down?


    Freya stared me down, huffing and puffing, waiting for me to speak.


    “You’re right,” I said calmly, pushing myself to my feet, “I made a bad call, off of intel that was evidently insufficient.”


    I stole a glance at Kai, gauging her reaction. She lowered her head, taking the jab personally. This was a good sign, clearing her of some suspicion.


    “The important thing is that ultimately no one died,” I explained, which I was relieved to find out, “I take responsibility for the choice, and it’s no one’s fault but my own. I accept this, and I apologize for the stress this decision has caused.”


    “Stress?! Stress?! That’s what you’re worried about, that the scouts are all in a panic because they think their leader died out there for some fucking gunpowder?!”


    I raised my eyebrows slightly at this, which she picked up on.


    “Yea,” she rolled her eyes, “He told me what they were going after last night.”


    “And why didn’t you go with him then?” I questioned, prodding.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    “Because you told him to take a group of fucking scavs, not scouts, not Enforcers. So he followed your orders, and look where that got him!”


    I sighed, meeting her eyes.


    “I didn’t mean for this to happen Freya, you know that. He’s like a brother to me, I would never wish for something like this to happen.”


    She faltered for just a moment, knowing that my words were true and honest.


    “Fuck you,” she spat, “Sorry won’t bring him back the next time, when he doesn’t get lucky.”


    She spun and stormed out of the room and down the stairs, disappearing from my earshot.


    I collapsed into my chair, the shaking returned. I hated confrontation, as odd as it sounds, I shake and my face gets red, no matter how many times it happens. But what choice do I have as the leader of The Sanctum?


    I drew in shaky breaths. Steadying myself, my hands steepled to support my head. A single silent tear escaped, which was quickly brushed away.


    I looked up at Kai, she met my eyes for a moment before hanging her head once more.


    “It isn’t your fault Kai,” I assured her, “It was a setup.”


    “But I should have noticed, “ she protested, “There should have been signs. The coals must have been fresher than I thought, someone must have been watching me and I failed to notice. It is my fault, I bear that burden.”


    “I’ll grant you part of that statement, someone must have been watching you. The only question is who.”


    She stood still, waiting—for judgment, maybe. Or forgiveness.


    I sat in thought, turning over the conversation with Freya, thinking about the implications of the ambush. I tried and tried to piece it together, but something was missing. I had no knowledge of a group operating to the south, aside from traveling nomadic groups but no one concrete. That I knew of at least.


    I gave up on the puzzle, shunting it to the back of my mind for later analysis. I needed to venture out there sometime, have a look around. Or maybe send someone, but maybe that was even more dangerous.


    “Come on, let’s go and welcome them back,” I said, rising.


    I could hear the dull rumble of the diesel engine just outside.


    As we made our way outside I took in the eyes that followed me through the store, mostly scouts, anger and betrayal. They would get over it, eventually.


    I found the scavengers and Patrick untying their bikes, they’d looped them to the back of the truck and let The Blackguard pull them home. Ash stood by, watching them with disinterest.


    “Ash,” I said, approaching the captain of The Blackguard. He was a grizzled veteran, he served over in Iraq before the flare. He was a retired Marine, retiring at the rank of sergeant. I was thankful to have him on our side.


    “Sol,” he returned, clasping each other''s forearms we embraced briefly.


    “Thank you for your work today,” I commended him before turning to Kai, “Kai, get a verbal debrief from Ash, we’ll discuss it later.”


    Ash didn’t like to write, so I didn’t make him. Kai would transcribe it if it was necessary.


    I turned to greet Patrick, he looked shaken but more or less fine.


    “Glad you made it back,” I said, embracing him the same way I did Ash.


    “Glad to be back. Had to say, I doubted you for a moment there. Wasn’t sure we’d survive that one.”


    He wasn’t a stranger to gunfights, he’d been in plenty. But there’s always something extra stressful when it comes out of nowhere like that.


    I held his arm for just a moment longer, looking into his eyes. I could tell he didn’t blame me as Freya and the rest of the scouts did, but I still needed to amend my mistakes.


    “I’m sorry for putting you in that situation, I had no idea that would happen.”


    “I know you didn’t, it’s fine man. We all got back. You shoulda seen ‘em turn tail once The Blackguard showed up, scattered into the woods like rats. Think that we just had the wrong place at the wrong time. We got all the goods too,” he said, unzipping the duffel bag that hung over his shoulder. Sure enough, tubs of gunpowder filled it. I looked around, not seeing boxes of casings on the empty wagons.


    “Casings a wash?” I asked.


    “Back of the truck, figured it’d be easier that way.”


    “Aye, goodman,” I smiled.


    I hid the concerns I had with the group that attacked them, they could chalk it up to a random attack, but that felt wrong. This felt more like a setup.


    I gripped him on the shoulder, “Get this stuff to Ivan, he’ll take it from here, and get yourself cleaned up. Get a report written up or find Kai and she’ll make one for you. Thanks again for your work, I’m going to check with Ash about this.


    “You got it,” he said with a mock salute, I rolled my eyes at him.


    “I’ll find you later,” I assured him, moving back towards Ash and Kai.


    Ash spoke with Kai, I could see her absorbing the words. No doubt piecing the story together so she could remember it later.


    “Ash,” I interrupted, “I got a couple quick questions.”


    He turned to me, “Sure thing, what’s up?”


    I pulled him away from the rest of them, Kai quietly slipped closer and closer, listening in. I didn’t mind.


    “You think this was a setup?”


    He thought for a moment, it was performative, I knew he already had an answer, “Seems that way, yes. You think the same?”


    I nodded in agreement, “I do, but they fled when you guys showed up?”


    “They did, yea, my guys were disappointed, but it was probably for the better. By the sounds of the firefight they had some interesting firepower. Some of the bullet timings sounded almost full auto, maybe ex-military gear. They had some decent coordination too, and might be using radios. They all fled at the same time, no hesitation.”


    I contemplated this information, “I see, thanks Ash. Sorry for interrupting.”


    I bowed out of the conversation, leaving Kai to it.


    Just some extra pieces to the puzzle that I was working over in my mind.


    That confirmed it, there was definitely something going on here. But what?


    Whatever it is, I hope it doesn’t escalate, we already are going to have an issue with Wally, the last thing we need is another group encroaching on our territory. Fighting a war on two fronts wasn’t something we could manage right now.


    What advantage could I swing from these encounters? How could I come out ahead? What do we need? We need information, intel. We were blank on the southern group, I’ll set up extra scouts out there, keep an eye in that direction. What about the north though, scouts would give us a heads up but we needed something more than that.


    My eyes lit up. We had just that, we just needed to open it up. I thought about my approach, how best to coax Rhea into opening up. She was the answer, she had the intel we needed, we just needed to get it out of her.