‘My stipend,’ I say to her back.
Katayoun stills.
‘If you join my squadron, for the rest of the year, half of my earnings go to you.’
She leans against the bronze balustrades of the stairway, considering. ‘If I join you, it’s inviting the hatred of our masters and Captain Fayez. I am the way I am, to survive. When you were recruited into our trifecta, you replaced a rukh who died. I do not share her death wish.’
‘If we perform horridly—’
‘You will,’ she reminds me.
‘– you remain comfortable at Zero-Slash. If we do well, you become First-Slash. You lose nothing, while gaining my stipend.’
Katayoun marches back up the stairs. ‘I am only one person.’
‘Of course.’ I lean in and place several ingots in her palm. ‘You will get more if you convince another low-rank to join.’
‘Cemil will murder us.’
‘My stipend,’ I repeat, curling her fingers around the copper.
As nimble as a fox, she pockets it. ‘There are only two fools who trust me. Sharra and Aina.’
‘That’s good enough.’ I hide my triumph.
During mealtimes, my students continued to report information gathered from the other captains’ Marka squadrons while they served food. From this, with Katayoun, I begin contriving my plan.
The next day, I announce the last piece needed to complete our entry:
‘I went to the Za’skar bureau of duels to register our squadron. Your task is to convince the other thirteen pazktab students to join us, making us over twenty, the minimum number required to compete.’
Yasaman raises her hand. ‘It will not be not easy, master.’
‘They are young. Promise gold and glory.’
‘You expectuntrainedstudents to battle in the Marka?’ Arezu arches a brow.
‘I expect them to distract. We are following Eskander’s strategies, outmatched in power but unmatched in speed and diversion. No one will have predicted it.’
Arezu smirks. ‘Even if we convince them, they do not trust you as an Azadnian.’
That is a good point. ‘I will make them trust me,’ I insist.
‘But you rarely speak kindly,’ Sohrab remarks and my mouth gapes open.
‘You are inept at social interactions,’ Arezu adds.
‘Master holds me,’ Yahya protests and I feel a little reassured.
‘In truth, you are terrible at making friends. You berated and beat Arezu when she thieved from me,’ Sohrab dares to say.
‘Because shehurtyou.’
‘Which proves my argument; then, you tried to teach her how to steal from me better.’
‘Okay, enough.’ I pretend to straighten my tunic. ‘May the Divine reward your honesty, you pigs.’
‘You prove our point again. To draft pazktab students, you must charm them.’
