Chapter 291: Territory

Vesper led the squad across the first crossing, then split it where the channel branched.

Tarin took the wider waterway toward the pool junction, with Pell following and Riptide carrying Keep behind them. Vesper, Mistwhisker and Eira continued along the other bank. Lantern moved through the adjoining water, its veils drawing close where the passage narrowed.

Bolt turned into the shallow channel running through the nearer open-ground position and faced the approach.

On the viewing surface, the junction’s boundary changed to Ren’s color. The open-ground position followed, then the vegetation edge. There, the water emerged from beneath the overhanging leaves into a broad pool, deep enough for Lantern’s bell and trailing veils. Vesper’s land group spread along its bank.

The first points appeared beside Ren’s name.

He touched the plate.

"Vesper. Hold those three. Keep the crossings clear."

She raised a hand briefly before turning toward Eira. Ren lifted his fingers and checked the other approaches.

— • —

Greave’s crew reached the lower shelf of the ridge while Ren’s squad was settling into position.

They occupied the marked area first, then began passing equipment up from the channel. Several stayed within the boundary as the others carried beams to the water entrance. Once its score began, the ridge earned two points at each mark against the single point from each of Ren’s positions.

At the far end, Roan’s two heavy fighters entered the hot-channel boundary with their handler on dry stone behind them. They took opposite sides of the water and waited.

Another squad approached along the far bank. Five entrants spread out, two advancing toward the nearer heavy while the others moved toward the handler’s side.

The leading entrant crossed the line, and Roan’s scoring paused.

The heavy turned and struck it across the body, throwing it back onto the bank. Its companion moved to cover the exposed approach. The handler signaled, and both stopped at the edge of the position instead of pursuing.

The challengers dragged their fallen member clear. For several marks, one remained just inside the boundary while the others threatened another approach, but the heavies gradually forced them out. Roan’s score resumed when the last withdrew.

Ren looked back to the ridge. Greave’s beams now crossed the channel entrance, with one end braced against the stone. Pell would have to leave its fast water route to enter there.

He touched the plate again.

"Vesper. Send Pell to check the hot channels. Leave the ridge approach alone."

— • —

Pell departed after Tarin checked the water beyond the junction.

The courier passed beneath the leaves and emerged farther along the basin, a bright flame moving close to the channel’s edge. It slowed outside the hot sector, where the nearer heavy stood above the water. Ren watched it wait through a scoring mark before advancing.

Pell entered the boundary in a burst, then checked its speed within the marked water. Roan’s position showed as contested. The next mark passed without adding its two points.

The heavy stepped toward the channel, and Pell accelerated back along the route it had checked.

It waited outside while the defender returned to its position. On the second pass, Pell spent less time inside, but remained across the line when the scoring mark came. Roan lost another two points before the courier withdrew.

The handler moved along the dry stone and pointed to the water entrance.

One heavy stepped into it, filling the narrow approach while remaining inside the scoring boundary. Pell slowed beyond reach, held there briefly, then turned toward the junction. There would be no third pass through that entrance.

Across the position, the earlier challengers were moving along the bank again. The heavy in the water could watch Pell’s route or leave it to reinforce its companion; it could no longer cover both approaches from the same place.

— • —

Ren’s three positions continued scoring while Pell returned.

Tarin checked the water route between the junction and the vegetation edge, then went back. Riptide carried Keep partway along the same passage before returning to the pool. From the ridge, one of Greave’s crew followed the movement, turning again when Pell’s flame came through beneath the leaves.

Four crew members left the shelf carrying two beams.

They descended the ridge and crossed the open stone toward the narrow passage under the canopy. The ridge kept scoring behind them; enough defenders remained within its boundary, and no rival moved to contest it.

Ren watched the crew lower a beam across the passage. The second went in at an angle, braced against the bank. They packed loose stone and debris around the ends until the opening was too narrow for Riptide and the mounted cradle.

Then they climbed back toward the ridge.

The water still ran beneath the obstruction. Keep’s network remained within range, but its carrier could no longer pass through. Tarin’s quickest route to the edge was blocked, along with Pell’s shortcut back from the hot channels.

Vesper had her map open on the bank. She showed Eira the downstream crossing, then pointed along the longer channel beside their retreat path. Lantern moved toward that side of the pool, keeping its light across the place where the shaded path emerged from the growth.

At the junction, Pell came onto the bank beside Keep. Tarin steadied the cradle while the courier released the retaining strap, and they guided it onto dry stone within the scoring boundary. Riptide moved clear once the load was settled.

Pell stayed with Keep while Tarin and Riptide approached the wedge from the junction side. The pool continued earning its point at every mark.

On the far side of the vegetation, a cluster of small entrants moved toward the shaded path. Ren checked the squad label before the canopy hid them.

Petra Vane.

— • —

Lantern’s light caught the first runner as it emerged from the leaves.

It was knee-high, lean and upright, with long hooked hands. Two others followed toward the scoring boundary. A second pair went wider along the bank, moving toward the narrow ground above the downstream channel.

Vesper turned before all five were visible from Ren’s view. She pointed toward Bolt’s position, then moved between Eira and the approaching runners. Mistwhisker stayed low beside her.

The first runner crossed into the vegetation-edge boundary. Ren’s earned points remained on the display, but that position stopped adding to them.

Bolt left its open-ground channel at Vesper’s signal. The smaller position stopped scoring as soon as it was empty.

The jetmaw arrived through the connecting water and drove a jet into the nearest runner, knocking it back from the bank. Another leaped into the shallows while Bolt turned. Its hooked hand caught the fish’s flank and dragged along it before Bolt could pull clear.

Dark water spread from the wound.

Vesper reached the runner as it tried to strike again. She caught its arm and forced it toward the bank while Mistwhisker darted at its legs, making it turn away from Bolt. The third runner advanced, then stopped when she faced it.

Eira knelt beside the fish, pressing both hands along the cut. Lantern held near the channel opening, its light falling across the shallows where she worked.

Ren leaned forward. From the hall, he could see the wound when Bolt rolled, but Eira’s hands hid most of it. The blood thinned in the current and spread again when the fish tried to turn. She shifted with it, keeping pressure on the flank until it settled.

The two wide runners had reached the narrow bank downstream. They waited above the water, leaving Vesper’s group between them and the three pressing the position.

Tarin was still at the wedge. Riptide had begun working the debris loose beneath the first beam, but the passage remained closed.

Ren touched the plate.

"Vesper. Abandon the edge. Withdraw by the long water."

She was already pointing Eira downstream.

Bolt turned with a slow stroke, and Eira moved beside it until she could take one hand from the wound. Lantern drew its veils in and followed the jetmaw into the channel. Vesper and Mistwhisker backed along the bank, facing the runners.

His words had reached her promptly. She had seen the attack forming beneath the canopy while he was still waiting for the viewing angle to reveal it.

Ren kept his fingers on the plate and watched.

At the narrow bank, Mistwhisker ran low toward the two waiting flankers. One stooped to catch it. The cat changed direction, and Vesper stepped into the opening, driving the runner back from the water with her shoulder. It caught itself against the bank, obstructing its partner long enough for Eira to bring Bolt past in the channel below.

Lantern followed through the wider bend. Its veils trailed close to the bank, illuminating the runner as it tried to regain its footing. Vesper kept herself between it and Eira until Mistwhisker was clear.

The three attackers behind them pressed to the edge of the scoring area. One stayed inside while the other two advanced a few paces along the bank, then returned when Vesper’s group reached the broader ground beyond the bend.

Eira was the last of Ren’s entrants to cross the boundary. When she stepped clear, Petra’s position began scoring.

Ren took his fingers off the plate.

— • —

Riptide was still working from the junction side when the retreat reached the longer channel.

Its current washed loose debris from beneath the wedged beam. Water poured through the gap, and the timber shifted against the packed bank. Tarin set its spear beneath the raised end and used the stone as a brace.

The first attempt moved it only a little. Riptide cleared more of the material beneath it, then Tarin leaned into the shaft again. The beam slid far enough for one end to drop free.

Tarin pulled it aside while Riptide worked on the second support. The narrow route reopened, but Vesper’s group had already committed to the downstream crossing. Turning back would cost more time than it saved.

At the junction, Pell remained beside Keep inside the boundary. Ren’s score had continued rising throughout the clearing attempt, one point at a time.

He touched the plate for the fourth time.

"Vesper. Consolidate at the junction. Hold it to the signal."

Her hand rose briefly as she approached the pool along the bank.

Bolt reached the sheltered water first and slowed almost to a stop. Eira stepped down beside it while Lantern settled along the far side of the pool. Vesper checked both approaches before joining Pell at the cradle.

Tarin and Riptide came back through the reopened channel. Ren watched the whole squad gather within reach of one another, then looked at the scoring display.

The junction was still adding points. His other two positions no longer were.

— • —

They held the pool through the remaining marks.

Tarin guarded the channel mouth, with Riptide close enough to support either bank. Lantern’s light exposed the shaded approach, and Mistwhisker watched the land route beside Vesper. Pell stayed near Keep, leaving the cradle on its sheltered stone rather than remounting it while the squad held position.

Eira continued treating Bolt. The jetmaw could swim, but favored its injured side when it turned. She kept it in the quieter water and worked along the cut again after it settled. Once she took her hands away, she stayed near enough to check the wound when it moved.

A pair of opposing scouts approached the pool along the bank. Vesper faced them while Tarin shifted toward that side of the entrance. They stopped outside the boundary, watched for a few moments and withdrew. Ren left the plate untouched.

At the hot channels, the earlier challengers returned in force along the exposed bank. One crossed the boundary while the others kept the nearer heavy occupied. Roan’s scoring paused again.

The handler signaled the heavy stationed in the water. It stepped back toward the attack, then checked its movement to keep the channel entrance covered. The challengers gained ground during that hesitation and held inside the boundary through several more marks before the two heavies drove them out.

Roan’s score resumed. Pell’s two denied marks were only part of the interruption; the repeated challenge had cost him longer stretches of control.

Another squad reached the far open-ground position late and occupied it. Petra kept the vegetation edge, then sent two runners along the bank to the channel Bolt had abandoned. Ren saw the empty position change color. From then on, she scored at both, though much of the round had already passed before her second occupation.

The remaining Lords’ totals moved on the display as the view shifted between positions. Ren checked them against his own, then returned his attention to the junction. Challenging for another point now meant crossing ground his injured squad would have to retreat over again.

Greave’s ridge continued scoring at twice the junction’s rate. His crew reinforced the approach they had already closed, keeping enough entrants inside to prevent a quick challenge from becoming an occupation. No one reached its boundary before the final stretch of marks.

Ren watched the gap between their totals grow smaller and then reverse.

He stayed with the junction order.

— • —

The signal sounded. Scoring stopped, and the position boundaries dimmed while the squads remained where they were.

The final totals appeared beside the Lords’ names.

Tomas Greave: 192.

Ren Valis: 185.

Roan followed, with Petra below him and the other four Lords filling the remaining places. An attendant brought the confirmed group result down the third section.

Greave had earned eight championship points. Ren had earned seven.

Ren checked the position record. The junction had scored at every mark from its early capture. The open-ground position and vegetation edge had each added points until just before halfway. Together they had given him a lead, but the ridge’s uninterrupted scoring had overtaken it after the withdrawal.

Greave had sent four crew members to the wedge without losing control of the ridge. Nobody had entered the boundary while they were away. The obstruction had cost him equipment and movement, but no scoring marks.

Ren looked back at the squad. Eira was crouched beside Bolt, and Vesper had turned toward the channel where their return instructions would come. All eight entries were still there.

He unfolded the map on his knee and traced the two routes between the edge and the junction. They had kept a way out. What they hadn’t kept was support close enough to reach the edge once the shorter route closed.

He marked the downstream crossing as a place for a relief group before folding the map away.