“I think that’s the point,” I said. “They want us to prepare foranything. It’s a shitty deal that you have so little training under your belt, and they’re sending you in.”
He shrugged.
“Fairness was never my Fa—” he stumbled, glancing around. “I mean, the King’s strong suit,” he said. Vlakas had his own share of scars for refusing to answer to his new name. Referring to the King as his father had earned him far more.
King Cyrius Alexus had ruled Alexandria for the last thirty years. He had inherited war on multiple fronts from his own father, but Cyrius had a much better tactical mind. Under his rule, we were facing fewer war fronts.
Sometimes I enjoyed the irony that Cyrius had lost three children to the Legion now. He despised Mageians. Davidus had not been at the Legion when I was brought here, so I could only assume that he had been sent to one of the other cities for training.
“Do… do you really think we have a chance at the Machi, Kat?” Vlakas asked, his voice low.
“Absolutely,” I responded, without hesitation. “We’re the strongest Air and Earth mages in the Legion - from what I can tell from the records, the strongest in at least fifty years. Maybe longer. Fire and water may be flashier, but we hold the real power of the elements.” I answered. “Plus, we are way cuter than the Fire and Water Mages,” I said, winking at him.
Vlakas’ face lost some of the worried scowl it had held since we had been dismissed, which was what I had been shooting for. He grinned at me.
“Yes, we are, aren’t we?” he said, bumping my shoulder with his own.
“Fuckingomofylofilos,” I heard sneer at us from behind. “Think you can win the Machi by sucking up to an ex-prince? I heard his family wants him dead even more than yours does, Kataramenos.”
I turned to glare at the man approaching us.
“Oh wait!” he said, feigning surprise. “That’s right! You don’t have any family left, right Kat?” he sniped. “Disowned by your father. Dead Mother, dead brother. I’m starting to sense a pattern…”
I narrowed my eyes at him, Vlakas reaching a hand out to grab my arm but I shook him off. We had succeeded in keeping our familial relationship relatively quiet, so not everyone knew we were half-brothers.
The asshole’s name was Actos. He was a Fire Mageia, originally from Greece. He had been shipped to our Legion a couple of years after I had arrived. If one city didn’t have enough space or enough instructors, it was common for Dokimos and Hoplites to be shuffled around.
Actos was slightly taller than me at around six foot-one. Okay, he was a lot taller than me, and his body was whipcord thin. He was one of those magic users who seemed as if the fire he weaved might be burning him up from the inside out.
When he had first arrived, I had done my level best to befriend him. He had been five foot nothing back then, even shorter than me at the time. Skinny to the point of starvation, bright orange hair shaved close to his head. Discovering he was Mageian had been an improvement for his life, if you could believe that. His mother had been an aging whore who didn’twork in a House. No one knew who his father was. They had struggled to survive on the streets, both selling their bodies until Actos’ power manifested.
He had the most beautiful green eyes I’d ever seen on a man. I must have admired them one too many times, though. Apparently, his years selling himself on the streets to survive made him think that anyone who was attracted to their own sex was a monster. When he found out I wasomofylofilos, our friendship had ended. Explosively.
“What, jealous Act?” I teased, relaxing my glare into a seductive smile. Might as well poke the bear.
His face turned almost as red as his hair and he began to advance on me, hands out and flames forming.
“Pervert! I will fucking ki—” he started toward me.
“You will donothing, Hoplite,” I heard a voice bark at him. I turned toward the voice, only to see Lochagos Allard approaching us.
We all dropped to our knees; hands crossed in front of us at his approach. Allard didn’t have to use Suppression to receive obedience. He was one of the few Elusians that were halfway decent to Mageians.
“Hoplite Actos, you need to find somewhere else to be. Now.” He said, his voice was stern and brooked no opposition. I watched Actos jump to his feet and hurry off, casting a single dark glance at me over his shoulder.
Allard stopped in front of us.
“Oh, get up, you two,” he growled, waving us to our feet. “I just wanted to see how you were doing. I still can’t believe they scheduled your Machi Thanatos so close to your Calling.”
“We’re fine, sir,” Vlakas said slowly. I could hear the confusion in his voice. No one cared if Mageians lived or died. But Allard seemed different.
Allard was new here. He had transferred to Alexandria from Greece about two years previously, where he had taken part in the war effort. Scuttlebutt said that he had been a high-ranking officer but had killed a fellow officer during the war and busted in rank. Talk was cheap, though, and no one knew the real story.
“I’m sorry, men. I tried to talk the Tagmatarches out of assigning you so soon, but…” he sighed and shrugged. “A piece of advice for you, soldiers,” he said, glancing around, his voice dropping to a whisper. “If I were you, I would highly suggest you make friends with the beast you will be facing during the Machi.”
Vlakas and I looked at each other. Beast? What kind of beast?
“Why tell us?” I demanded, instantly suspiciously. “…sir.” I added belatedly.
