Sayed raced down the docks after the fleeing man, his legs pumping hard as he drew in more power with each breath. His muscles burned, but the fleeing man managed to stay ahead. By knowing himself, Sayed knew he was chasing a skilled runner in the least.

  Already, he was reaching the tower at the edge of the docks and turning toward the stairs inside. Sayed was too far behind to catch up unless he tried a different tactic.

  In his mind, when faced with a difficulty, there were two paths to take: the easy way and the hard way. Sayed could chase the man down the stairs and hope to catch him on the descent, or he could try something risky.

  As he reached the tower, he jumped off the side.

  "Tales are forged on grande risks. May God guide my hand!"

  Air rushed past Sayed's face as he opened his gate and embraced the burning fire of his god's blessing. His muscles burned in a raging fire as he clenched them tight, filling his lungs and body with aether as he focused on the ground below. With one hand, he drew his khopesh, funneling the heat of his body into the blade and causing the tip to glow a bright orange.

  Whoosh.

  He passed the first level quickly and the second at a more significant speed. There were ten levels, each about the height of a slipship until he reached the ground. Sayed realized that he might not be able to land safely at such a distance.

  Sayed had jumped down without a plan, merely an idea. He did not know if he jumped to his death or if his idea would work. However, there was a simple truth.

  "The action is the test of the truth," Sayed said, drawing his khopesh close to his chest as the ground rushed at him. "Demon's Thrust!"

  Crack. Ksh.

  The wooden tower was little resistance against his blade as he cut into the side at his falling speed. Sayed threw his sword deep inside the tower, slicing through it far too quickly to slow him. If he kept going, he would practically bisect most of the tower, and he did not desire that.

  "Hrgh!"

  He threw his feet against the wall, and his sandals clattered against it as he grabbed the sword with another hand. Smoke rushed past his head as he slowed, but he still was not slowing enough.

  "Give my legs the strength." He gasped as his sandals broke beneath him, pushing his bare feet against the wood.

  Thunk. Thunk.

  Sayed grunted, flexing his arms as he pulled his sword to him. He passed the tenth level, his pace screeching to a halt above the bottom of the docks. He stopped at nearly the last moment, hanging suspended above the entrance to the tower, with the wooden platform below the last part of the docks.

  He stayed there for a moment, catching his breath and bringing himself back to his senses.

  "I might choose a different risk next time." Sayed sighed, pulling himself up on his sword and pushing away from the wall.

  He sailed through the air, coming to a landing away from the door. Now, he just needed to wait for the man to catch up to him, and he would have the sneak exactly where he wanted him. Sayed could not help but smile. The risk might have nearly killed him, but he had managed to get one step ahead.

  He was starting to reach Alex's level of planning ahead.

  "Come out, fiend." Sayed grabbed the wood below him with his bare feet, his sword at the ready above his head. "Do not delay!"

  Sayed stood there for a few moments, waiting for the man to come down the stairs. However, he never came. Fire rose up Sayed's face as he waited, sure of his decision but frustrated that nothing happened. Had his jump been premature? Sayed pushed that doubt away. His instinct was right.

  To prove his point, a shadow fluttered above him, flitting past the waning moonlight and toward the buildings across the docks. Sayed spun, following the shadow to find a man landing close by after jumping down from the docks above.

  Thump

  "You will not escape me!" Sayed started after the man, and the man immediately sprinted away and down the nearest alley.

  The buildings around the docks were all large and tall stone structures, with wood filling out the upper floors. They were packed tightly together, so there was little space to move between them. Sayed rushed after the man, but again, the man bounded and jumped faster than Sayed thought possible. It was like the wind itself pushed the man along, giving his feet flight faster than Sayed could follow.

  "Enough of this." Sayed stopped, looking up the alley as he drew his khopesh above his head and put his feet in a wide stance. "Demon's Thrust!"

  He shot forward like a cannonball, thrusting with his khopesh down the alley directly toward the running man. Sayed did not aim to kill; instead, he targeted his sword above the man's shoulder so that the small guard of his sword would crash against the man and send him sprawling.

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  However, his sword passed through nothing. He reached the man easily, and the man did not even try to dodge. The moment Sayed's guard crashed against the man, though, it passed through as if he wasn't there. In the next instant, the man disappeared, fluttering into a trail of dark shadows like a fading mirage.

  "Impossible," Sayed whispered, remembering his fight with the swordsman on Diamond Peak.

  Of course, it wasn't actually impossible. He and his crew had blessings all their own. All this meant was that his quarry had a blessing as well.

  "Where are you?" Sayed searched the alley around him but saw nothing.

  Thud.

  A noise above him called his attention, and Sayed looked up to see a man on the rooftop. Sayed gritted his teeth. The man probably needed to be within sight of his shadow to maintain the illusion. It meant the chase was not yet over.

  "Come back here!" Sayed yelled as the man disappeared from the rooftop, running away.

  Sayed would not let him escape.

  "Report from our scouts, sir!" one of the men monitoring the screens turned to Commander Milton. "Two of the people from the ship have engaged them."

  "What do they have to say about the crew?" Milton asked.

  "Three left early before the two crewmen engaged them."

  "We spotted them entering the base just now," the other man said. "Based on their wanted posters, they are 'Tin Man' Ortega and 'Thorn Queen' Leah."

  "They're in the base?" Captain Drake jumped forward, his claw gripping tight.

  "Well, what are we waiting for?" Captain Grayson turned toward the door, but Milton coughed.

  "The pieces are in place, but we don't know why Ortega would come to our base," Milton said. "What kind of madman invades a place like Tartarus?"

  "Does it matter?" Captain Drake asked. "We find him, and we capture him."

  "But we don't know why." Milton frowned. "Why split up his crew to come here?"

  Milton didn't understand why Ortega would make such a move. There was no reason to come to Tartarus, even if they had just stopped at the port for supplies. Coming to the port was a mistake in itself, but it would have been understandable if they had been desperate. Going into the base should seem like suicide.

  That was unless Ortega knew the truth.

  "We will split our forces the same," Commander Milton said. "One of you will go to try and get his crew under control. The other will help me track down Ortega in the base without causing any alarm."

  "Wouldn't it be better to focus on capturing Ortega? To sound the alarm?" Captain Drake asked, smoke still billowing out from his maw. "While I know his decision is strange, I don't think they could take on all of Tartarus once the base is put on alert."

  "My dear captain." Commander Milton smiled, shaking his head as he gestured at the screens. "You're assuming something very grand in all that."

  "And what is that?" Drake asked.

  "Assume for a moment that each of the soldiers on my base is a chess piece," Commander Milton said, picking a white pawn from his pocket and holding it between his fingers. "Assume that they are fully trained members of the Military Police. What would they think when the base is put on alert? How would they act when they are finally put to the fire?"

  Captain Drake narrowed his eyes at Commander Milton, and Milton only smiled. The captain wasn't a fool, but he also didn't know the greatest weakness of the Empyrean. It was the rotting core that kept Commander Milton on edge. It was the reason he wanted Ortega to break in. Everything that Commander Milton believed about the Military Police rested on the problem.

  "They would follow orders," Captain Drake said. "They would be ready to fight and take down the rest of the crew if they decided to attack."

  Commander Milton shook his head, clicking his tongue as he turned to Captain Grayson. "What about you? Do you see the problem?"

  "Aye, I do." Captain Grayson stuffed his hands in his pockets and turned away. "I can't say it's a problem I haven't noticed before. The fact is we're all green."

  "Precisely."

  "We've all served for a long time." Captain Drake shook his head. "I've helped track down hundreds of outlaws, helped put down rebellions and—"

  Clack.

  "And never really fought a war or a battle." Commander Milton dropped the pawn to the floor. "That is the reality of the current iteration of our organization. We haven't had to fight a proper war in ages. We haven't seen real losses for over a hundred years. The Military Police is untested, and I don't want to be the one that shows exactly how precarious our position is."

  "So, you wouldn't put your base on alert to fight off a few outlaws?" Fumes clouded Captain Drake's face so that only his yellow eyes glowed through.

  "I would rather capture them without that fight." Commander Milton tucked his arms behind his back. "The same way I would rather capture Ortega without a fuss among my men. I don't want to test a system that I know will break."

  "This is preposterous." Captain Drake stepped through the gathering smoke. "These aren't children. These are soldiers. We are here to lay down our lives to maintain the order of the Scions."

  "But we don't act like it," Captain Grayson said, not moving from where he watched the wall. "Think about all the soldiers you know. Abyss, look at me and my lieutenant. Before we started after Ortega, we were some of the laziest in the service. That was how Ortega was able to steal my ship. He wasn't stronger than me, but he took advantage of how much my men all lacked."

  Captain Drake glared across the room at Captain Grayson but didn't contradict the man. Commander Milton had to give the old captain some respect. It took a lot to admit personal faults, and it had taken him years to recognize that his base couldn't stand up to a real attack. Even the design of the base wasn't feasible as a defense. It existed to look terrifying against the horizon and little else.

  The real truth was that the Military Police existed to keep people in check. However, even Commander Milton would leave that unsaid. None of the men in the room had signed up to be bullies of common people.

  "So, we stand before a coming storm where we are doomed to fail," Captain Drake said, turning on Commander Milton. "The waves of outlaws, revolutionaries, and malcontents heading toward the Core will breach through our defenses and reach the Dark Meridian as we crumble."

  "And it will cull the weak from our forces," Commander Milton said. "That's what I think the plan is. The chiefs remain silent, but it wouldn't surprise me if the Scions see this as a test of our ability."

  He bent down and picked up the pawn from the floor, blowing it off before returning it to his pocket.

  "They lose some of their forces but come out with experienced soldiers to rebuild," Commander Milton said. "The price of experience is blood."

  Captain Drake didn't argue further with him. It was hard to tell due to his serpentine nature, but the man seemed to deflate from the words. In a way, Commander Milton pitied him. Now, he would have to bear the truth as Commander Milton did.

  "I'll go to the docks." Captain Drake turned toward the door, a black trail of smoke following him. "I'll ensure that your base doesn't need to be tested."