Chapter 294: Lordless War

Snap returned to the cove with Eira’s binding still around its shell.

Ren cut the wrap away while Balm spread over the split. The crack followed the ridge the cellarclaw braced against when it fired. He worked Life along it from the inner edge outward, stopping twice to let Snap shift its weight. At the second stop, the repaired edge no longer gave beneath his fingers.

He lifted Balm clear and pointed to a flat rock in the shallows.

"Plant."

Snap settled against it with water covering its lower shell.

"Fire."

The shot struck deep water beyond the empty approach. Snap held its stance. Ren had it move along the rock and fire again, watching the repaired side through the recoil. It stayed firm.

He checked it after a third shot, then let Snap rest in the sheltered water. Eira recorded the treatment and the test on the fitness form. Ren sent it through with his declaration; confirmation of clearance came back before staging opened.

— • —

The Lordless War notice allowed one final transmission before the starting signal. After that, all Lord communication would be cut. The squad’s own signals and internal networks could continue.

The map showed a floodplain of scrub islands divided by waterways, with a rocky spur along one side and a raised platform at the centre. Eight return zones lay around the rim. Ren followed the channels with his finger, checking the published depths at every narrow stretch. Ward could reach each zone from the central platform without leaving deep water.

A standard stood on that platform.

It had to remain visible and be carried physically, never stored or concealed. Holding it at the final signal earned one objective point. Carrying it into the squad’s own return zone ended the round immediately and earned two.

Objective points decided the placing first, followed by total possession time, then earliest first possession. Anyone who never held the standard shared the lowest placing and received one championship point.

Interception was permitted outside the protected staging areas. The surrender and extraction rules remained in force, along with the same prohibited attacks.

Ren checked the roster against the map and declared the six from Siege: Ward, Vesper with Mistwhisker, Tarin, Keep, Eira and Snap. Eighteen points.

They had worked through both phases together. Vesper knew where they had been slow, and they had already followed her through a retreat and an assault. He kept them together for this one.

— • —

The hall was fuller than it had been for the previous rounds.

Selene lifted her notice from the gallery rail as Ren entered. Yuelan stood in the public seating until Lyra caught her sleeve and pulled her down. Beside them, Cassian raised his slate in greeting. Iris was still reading hers.

Ren took his seat and unfolded the map on his knee. Three sections along, Tomas Greave was doing the same. On the surface, Greave’s crew waited at its staging edge with the beams stacked beside it.

An attendant checked each Lord’s plate before allowing the final transmission. When she reached Ren, he put his fingers against his.

"Vesper. Take it when you have a route home. If that route closes, deny their delivery and find another. You command until the signal."

Vesper raised her hand on the surface. Ren waited until she lowered it, then took his fingers away as the plate went dark.

Halvern came down from the sponsors’ area and took the approved seat behind him. Ren heard the bench creak as he sat.

The signal sounded.

— • —

Roan’s heavies reached the platform first. One lifted the standard while the other guarded the ramp. Their handler followed them into the scrub toward their return zone.

Greave’s crew was already across that route. Its companions moved out on both flanks as the heavies approached, then closed behind them on the handler.

The unladen heavy turned back. The carrier followed when a companion dragged the handler off balance beside the bank. It lowered the standard to reach down, and two of Greave’s crew drove a beam across the shaft. The heavy held on until another crew member pulled the trapped end sideways. Its hand opened; a companion caught the falling shaft and ran it into the waiting formation.

By the time Roan’s handler was upright, the standard was moving away behind Greave’s beams.

The possession counter changed beside his name.

Roan’s carrier followed for several strides, then stopped at the bank. Its partner was still helping the handler climb out of the scrub. Greave’s crew used the gap to cross a narrow strip of ground between two pools, where the heavies would have to approach one behind the other. The three regrouped before they resumed the pursuit.

Vesper kept her squad at the crossings north of the platform. Ward waited in the deep channel with Keep mounted high. Tarin stayed near the bank, and Snap braced on a submerged stone at the shallower crossing. Vesper, Mistwhisker and Eira occupied the island between them.

Two other squads moved toward the fight. She let them pass beyond the far bank without following.

Ren looked from her position to the map. Several routes from the platform crossed that water. She could reach them while the other squads were still trying to break Greave’s formation, provided she moved before his carrier passed the junction.

Greave changed carriers at the first crossing, keeping the standard behind the crew while the new bearer climbed the bank. The handoff cost only a few steps. Companions checked the scrub on either side, and the beams turned outward whenever a challenger approached.

One squad tried the rear. Another came through the shallow water on the left. Both withdrew before reaching the carrier.

At the second handoff, Greave’s possession counter was already well ahead of Roan’s.

— • —

Petra Vane’s runners attacked during the third transfer.

Three bounded into the formation from the scrub. A fourth struck the receiving carrier behind the knee as it reached for the standard. The carrier fell against the shaft, dragging the first bearer’s arm down. The fifth runner seized the lower end and twisted it through their hands before either could recover a firm grip.

It fled west with the standard trailing above its shoulder. The others scattered between the pursuing crew members, then followed.

Petra’s return zone lay beyond two channels. The alternative route curled around the rocky spur, where another squad was coming down to meet her runners. Her carrier stayed by the water, turning twice to avoid the crew following it.

Each turn took it farther from the direct route home. Petra’s counter passed Roan’s while the runner was still looking for a crossing. Greave’s remained higher. Ren glanced toward his section, but Greave was watching the surface with both hands on his knees.

Vesper climbed the island’s spine. She looked toward Keep, then along the scrub until the standard showed between two low ridges. Her arm moved toward the crossing farther west.

Ward turned into the deep channel. Tarin collected Snap from its stone and followed alongside, while Vesper, Mistwhisker and Eira ran along the island toward its narrow end.

Ren leaned forward and found that crossing on his map.

The nearer one would have put them behind Petra’s escort. This one gave Snap a stretch of shallow rock beside the land approach, Tarin room beneath the crossing, and Ward a channel leading back east.

He traced the water from there to his return zone. His finger stopped at the bend behind the island, where Ward would be hidden until the runners came down the bank.

On the surface, Tarin was already lowering Snap onto the rock.

— • —

Petra’s carrier saw Ward as it reached the water.

It checked, looked back toward the pursuing crew, then ran along the bank for the narrow strip of dry ground at the island’s end. Two of its escort followed. The others stayed behind to delay Greave.

Snap fired into the wet approach ahead of them. Water and grit burst across the path. The carrier veered away while Snap shifted its feet and braced for another shot.

Vesper and Mistwhisker were waiting beyond the crossing. Eira stopped behind them, close to the bank where Ward could receive her.

The runners turned toward the water again. Greave’s crew was close enough now for a beam to show above the scrub behind them.

The carrier waded in, keeping the standard high. Tarin rose in front of it with the spear across its path. When the runner tried to turn back, Tarin stepped between it and the bank and caught the standard’s shaft against the spear.

The runner pulled. Tarin turned with it, forcing the shaft sideways while the current took the runner’s footing. One hooked hand came free. Tarin caught the standard above the remaining grip and pulled it clear as the runner fell into the shallows.

The other two splashed in after it. Vesper and Mistwhisker came down the bank behind them, cutting off their easiest way around Tarin. The fallen carrier scrambled back toward its escort.

Tarin retreated into deeper water with the standard upright. Ren watched the counter change to his name.

— • —

Ward came alongside the bank. Eira climbed aboard first and helped Vesper up; Mistwhisker followed her. Tarin passed the standard into Vesper’s hand, then returned for Snap while the whale turned east.

Vesper settled ahead of Keep’s cradle with the standard raised. Eira crouched behind her, one hand against the mount. Tarin caught up beside Ward with Snap supported above its Lawfire.

Greave’s crew broke away from Petra and cut across the island toward the narrowing channel ahead. Ren followed the two routes on the surface. The crew had less ground to cover, but its beams kept catching in the scrub.

The first pair reached the bank just before Ward. They swung a beam out over the water at the height of Vesper’s shoulders.

She ducked along the whale’s back, lowering the standard without covering it. The beam passed over her and struck the far bank. Greave’s crew started to draw it back across her path.

Ward slowed. Tarin put Snap onto a shelf of submerged rock on the inside of the bend, then moved toward the crew’s feet. A surge struck the bank and sent one bearer stumbling into the shallows.

Snap planted on its repaired side and fired into the exposed end of the beam. It spun out of the other bearer’s grip, struck the water and lodged diagonally across the bend.

Ward held back from it. Tarin lifted Snap clear of the rock and brought it to the whale’s flank. Eira reached down to steady the cellarclaw as it found a place behind Keep’s cradle; Tarin came alongside again and raised an arm.

The pause let the nearest crew member wade out toward them. Mistwhisker moved along Ward’s back to meet it, and the crew member stopped short of the deeper water. Behind it, the others were pulling at the beam. Vesper waited until Eira had both hands free.

Vesper pointed through the gap.

Ward passed close to the far bank, leaving the beam against the inside of the bend. Greave’s remaining crew reached for it as the wake washed over their footing. By the time they had turned it lengthwise, the whale was beyond their reach.

The channel widened ahead. No squad stood between them and Ren’s return zone.

One of Petra’s runners appeared on the bank and kept pace for a few strides before the land curved away. Vesper watched it until it stopped, then turned forward with the standard still clear of the water.

It crossed the marked boundary on Ward’s back.

The signal sounded before the whale had finished entering the zone.

— • —

The surface held the view while the result appeared beside it.

Ren Valis: two objective points. Delivery.

Tomas Greave: zero. His possession time put him second, ahead of Petra and then Roan. The four squads that had never held the standard shared the bottom placing.

Eight championship points to Ren. Seven to Greave.

Ren watched Vesper lower the standard across her knees. Eira moved back to inspect Snap’s braced side. Tarin remained beside Ward until an official waved them toward the exit.

The attendant brought the confirmed group result down his row.

Ren Valis: 30.

Tomas Greave: 29.

Ren read the qualification mark beside his name, then looked three sections along. Greave had won Territory and Siege. He was sitting with the same sheet open on his knees.

After a moment, Greave folded it and put it inside his coat. He stayed in his seat while the next row stood to leave.

Halvern rose behind Ren and returned to the sponsors’ area. Ren gathered his map and followed the attendant toward the boards.

— • —

The quarterfinal draw went up while the arenas were still clearing.

Eight names, one from each group. Ren found Adrien Sol on the fourth line and looked beneath it for the pairings.

He remembered Sol’s roster at the first briefing: the two- and three-point entries, none above four, the repeated roles. Sol had asked which members of Ren’s squad Keep could reach, thanked him for the answer and moved on to the next sheet.

Ren’s name appeared opposite his.

His quarterfinal opponent was Adrien Sol.