The next morning, Averik woke with Evelyn still asleep in his arms.
Morning had already put a pale strip of light across the bedroom floor. Evelyn’s cheek rested against his chest, silver hair loose over his arm, the red ends tangled near her shoulder. She had one leg folded against his beneath the blanket and hadn’t moved by the time he woke.
He threaded his fingers through the hair at her temple. On the second pass, his thumb brushed her cheek.
Evelyn stirred. Her lashes lifted slowly, silver-gray eyes unfocused for a heartbeat before they found him. The softness that came over her face was immediate.
"Morning, Averik~" Her voice was still rough with sleep. "You woke up first?"
She leaned up and kissed him before any answer came.
Averik caught her at the nape and returned it. His other hand slid beneath the blanket, closed over one soft cheek ass and squeezed. Evelyn made a quiet sound into his mouth and smiled when he let the kiss break.
"Up," he said. "Get ready. We’re going to Unit One to train."
"Mm... all right." She brushed another kiss beside his mouth before easing out of his arms. "Give me a little while and I’ll be ready~"
Averik squeezed her ass once more as she moved past him. "Don’t take long."
Her smile widened. "Yes Averik, I won’t."
***
Snow was already awake by the time they finished. The wolf waited near the front room, her tail thumping once against the floor when Evelyn came out carrying her spear. Averik left Roderic’s revolver on the hook beside the field harness.
They crossed District 2 on foot and entered District 1 with Snow ranging a few steps ahead whenever the lane opened. Morning light washed most of the red moon’s color from the sky. The cold pressed faintly against Averik’s skin and accomplished nothing more.
Unit One’s training yard was already alive when they arrived.
Several Frontline Unit members occupied the broad arena. Steel rang from one side while two Awakened traded short bursts of Essence on the other. Bram stood near the boundary with folded arms. He spotted Averik, glanced at Evelyn’s spear, then pushed off the post beside him. "Hey, Averik. You here to train?"
"Yeah. Trying a few things." Averik’s answer sent Bram’s attention back across the arena.
"I’ll clear it." Bram called the others out of the center.
Nobody objected. One FU member rolled his shoulders and moved toward a smaller drill lane; another collected his weapon and stepped behind the boundary line. Several slowed just enough to see what Averik and Evelyn meant to do before returning to their own work.
Snow settled near Bram at the edge, forelegs stretched forward, ears fixed on the arena.
Averik walked into the open ground. Evelyn followed with her spear in hand.
"Put protection around the boundary," he said.
Evelyn glanced around the full span of the arena. "Around the whole thing?"
"Yes." Averik remained in the center while she nodded and shifted the spear into one hand. "All right. Just a moment~"
Essence spread outward from her. Her Guardian protection rose around the arena in a translucent curve, almost invisible until it caught the light. She turned once while shaping it, checking the boundary by feel, then faced Averik again.
When the curve closed, Evelyn faced him again. "The ward is ready."
Averik’s next instruction made her focus sharpen. "Now remove me from your Sentinel target until we’re finished."
Her mouth tightened for a moment. She didn’t refuse. "If you want me to, I will." Her fingers adjusted around the spear shaft. "Only for the spar."
"That’s what I want." The familiar pressure disappeared from the edge of Averik’s awareness. Evelyn was still watching him with the same attention, but the automatic promise behind her Sentinel no longer sat between them.
She took several steps back and lowered the spear.
Averik went in empty-handed.
The first exchange lasted less than a breath.
Frost raced over the packed ground beneath Evelyn’s leading foot. She moved before it could lock her in place, spear butt smashing down hard enough to crack the forming ice. A Frost spear formed beside Averik and tore across the arena toward her ribs.
Her protection snapped into place.
CRACK!
The Frost spear burst apart against the ward.
Averik was already moving. He crossed the space between them fast enough that the men beyond the boundary became smears of dark clothing at the fringe of his vision. Evelyn turned her spear across his approach, forcing him off the shortest line, and another protection layer rose where his shoulder would have entered her reach.
He changed angle, drove off the Frost beneath his boot, and sent another spear from her left.
This one caught the ward while it was still forming. The point skated across the curved surface and shattered near her hip.
Evelyn’s eyes sharpened.
They moved again.
Her spear gave her reach, and once she stopped chasing him with it, that reach began to matter. A thrust cut through the space his chest had occupied. Averik slipped outside the line. Frost climbed around her rear boot; Evelyn broke it with Essence and rotated the spearhead back toward him before he could close.
Still too careful.
Averik caught the shaft with one hand.
The resistance stopped almost at once. Evelyn had already begun pulling the point away before he touched it. "You’re holding back."
Her fingers tightened on the wood. "I...I know." She looked at his hand around the shaft, then met his eyes. "I can attack you, Averik. I just... don’t like trying to drive this through you, it fells wrong"
"Do it anyway. I need your real limit, not the one you give me because you’re worried about hurting me." Evelyn exhaled slowly as Averik let go of the spear. "And coat it with Essence. Without that, even a clean hit won’t tell me much. You’d barely scratch me."
She recovered the spear and settled into stance. Her mouth stayed tight, but she didn’t argue. "I’ll do it properly." Her voice softened. "Please don’t make it easier for me just because you know I hate the idea of hurting you~"
"Yes my sweet wife." The smallest smile touched her mouth, and then she attacked hard enough to erase it.
Essence wrapped the spearhead and ran down the shaft. The first thrust blurred toward Averik’s chest. He slipped aside by less than the width of his palm, and the steel passed close enough for him to feel the pressure of it. Evelyn reversed the shaft immediately, cutting a short arc toward his jaw with the butt.
Averik caught that strike on his forearm.
This time the impact had weight. "Better." He shoved the spear away.
Frost flashed over the ground beneath both of Evelyn’s boots and locked them in place.
Her protection rose at the same instant.
Averik accelerated into it with Corruption gathering over his fist.
He kept the amount controlled. Dense, entirely his, Corruption Essence clung to his knuckles as he drove the punch forward.
BOOM!
The ward bowed inward.
Hair-thin veins of Corruption spread from the point of contact.
Averik felt every one of them because the Corruption belonged to him.
Instead of dispersing across the protection, it caught on the ward’s structure and crawled inward through it. The movement was faint, but unmistakable.
’Even through the shield, my Corruption can crawl along it. Give it another moment and it might reach her.’
He withdrew it immediately. Frost released from Evelyn’s boots with it.
Her ward lowered a fraction. "It was getting through, wasn’t it?"
"Moving through it," Averik said. He looked at the place his fist had struck. Nothing remained. "Layer Holy into the protection."
Evelyn stared at the struck point for a heartbeat. "I can try. Let me set it properly first~"
Averik waited.
Pale light threaded through the protection. It wasn’t a second wall sitting outside the first. Holy worked through what she had already formed until the same translucent curve carried a faint white sheen.
Evelyn flexed her fingers around the spear. "Please try it again."
Averik crossed the arena. Corruption wrapped his fist.
BOOM!
The ward bent under the strike.
His Corruption bit into the surface and stopped.
Averik pushed harder, stopping short of trying to break the ward. The change was immediate: his Corruption stayed caught where his fist met the surface.
He let the pressure build for another heartbeat.
Nothing crawled inward.
Averik pulled his fist back. "Good."
Evelyn released a breath she had been holding. "It held?"
"Much better. Keep Holy through it when Corruption is involved."
A quick smile crossed Evelyn’s face. "Yes Averik... I will."
They kept going.
The drills changed shape after that. Averik stopped trying to isolate the ward and started forcing Evelyn to rebuild it while moving. He attacked from angles she couldn’t answer by simply putting a wall between them. Frost climbed the ground, split into short spears, vanished and reformed elsewhere. Evelyn’s protection came faster each time, less as a broad answer to danger and more as the exact amount she needed at the exact point of contact.
Her own attacks sharpened with it.
At Tier 5, the exchange would have been little more than flashes and impacts to ordinary eyes. Spearpoint, shoulder, Frost, ward. Boots tore grooves into the packed ground. The protection around the arena took the force that escaped them and shuddered without breaking.
Bram was openly watching now.
Averik stepped outside one thrust, caught the shaft just behind the spearhead, and used the contact to drive Evelyn off line. She let the spear slide through her grip instead of fighting his strength directly, recovered the distance, and thrust again before he could close.
That nearly earned a smile. Better. He opened his hand, and Frost gathered from his palm, lengthening into a sword.
Evelyn’s eyes dropped to it for an instant. "A sword?"
"You know very well, my father taught me when I was younger." Averik answered. "you even train with me"
"Yes Averik... But... I Think you Don’t—" Her brows lifted. "That’s unfair."
Averik raised the Frost blade. "Come find out."
The spear met the sword with a sharp crack.
Evelyn owned the longer measure. Averik knew it immediately. When she kept the point between them, he had to work for every step inside her reach. He knocked one thrust aside, advanced along the shaft, and nearly reached her before she gave ground and cut the spear sideways across his chest line.
He leaned back. The steel missed his coat by a finger’s width.
The next clash sent Frost chips spinning between them.
Averik remembered enough of Roderic’s lessons to know when a sword was supposed to take the line instead of meeting strength with strength. Evelyn didn’t fight like Roderic. Her spear forced a different rhythm, and the first two exchanges punished any habit he tried to carry over unchanged.
’So fix it.’ He did.
On the next thrust he moved before the spear reached full extension, beat the point aside with the stronger half of the Frost sword, and entered the space her weapon wanted to keep.
Evelyn dropped the shaft, caught his blade on the reinforced middle, and threw up protection between his shoulder and her body at the same time.
The ward hit him like a moving wall.
Averik slid two steps across the frost-rimed ground and laughed once under his breath. "There. Do that again."
Evelyn’s expression warmed despite the strain in her breathing. "Gladly~ I’ll try that again."
They traded another series.
By the time Garran appeared near the outer boundary, Evelyn’s hair had begun to stick at her temples and the packed ground carried more white than brown. He said nothing at first. Bram shifted enough to give him room beside Snow.
Averik saw Garran, then put his attention back on Evelyn.
One more thing remained.
He changed the sword angle and let his left side open.
Not enough to look like surrender. Enough for Evelyn to see the line if she was actually trying to hit him.
Her spear came.
For the smallest fraction of a second, she hesitated, then obeyed.
The Essence-coated point punched through Averik’s left palm.
Pain flashed hot through the hand. Under it came something thinner and deeper, a scrape across the part of him that wasn’t flesh. Essence on the weapon had carried the injury farther than steel alone could have done.
Evelyn’s eyes widened. She ripped the spear back at once.
"Averik, I—" Her weapon hit the ground beside her as she crossed the distance. She caught his wrist with both hands, staring at the blood welling across his palm.
"I’m sorry. I... I should’ve stopped. I saw the opening and you told me to be serious, but I—"
"Evelyn." Averik waited until she looked up. "It’s fine. Look."
The puncture was already closing. Torn flesh drew together beneath the blood. Within moments, the hole was gone, leaving only red across unbroken skin.
Averik turned his hand once so she could see both sides. "Already healed."
Evelyn still held his wrist. Her shoulders lowered a little, though her eyes stayed on the hand she had pierced.
He could feel the deeper scratch too. Faint. Already easing under his recovery.
’Yeah, Essence reaches deeper than flesh even without a Soul ability. Barely a scratch for me. A dedicated Soul attack would be another matter.’
Averik closed his fingers, testing the hand. No weakness.
He caught Evelyn beneath the chin with the same hand she had just pierced. "You did what I told you to do. That’s the point."
Her eyes searched his face. "You’re really all right?"
"Yes." Averik Answered quietly.
Only then did she finally breathe out. "I don’t think I’ll ever like that part of training with you."
"You don’t need to like it. You need to do it when it matters." Averik Said.
Evelyn gave a small, reluctant nod. "Yes Averik, I will." Averik stepped back.
Outside the ward, Garran snorted. "You two finished trying to put holes in each other?"
Evelyn looked toward him, color still high in her face. Averik let the Frost sword dissolve from his hand. "For now."
Garran’s gaze moved over the cracked ice and the gouges their boots had left in the packed ground. "Remind me not to schedule anyone in here right after you."
Bram glanced at the ground. "I was going to say the same thing."
Evelyn released the perimeter. The curved protection thinned and disappeared. A moment later, the familiar pressure of her Sentinel settled around Averik again.
Snow stood immediately, stretched, and walked over to them as though the entire exercise had been an unnecessarily loud delay before lunch.
Garran waited until Evelyn had retrieved her spear.
"Averik, tomorrow is Saturday. So after midnight tonight, the Blood Moon—"
"Yeah," Averik cut in. "I’ll be here tonight."
Garran watched him for one beat, then gave a dry huff. "Fine. Saves me the rest of the sentence."
Averik shrugged. "You were taking too long."
Garran’s mouth pulled sideways. "And there I was trying to be responsible."
Bram laughed near the arena boundary.
***
They ate at Unit One after training.
The unit kitchen was busy enough that nobody lingered over the tables. Two ordinary workers brought the Frontline members their portions, dipped their heads when passing Garran, and moved out of the way when armed Awakened crossed behind them. One of them set a bowl before Evelyn with a quiet, respectful "Ma’am." The other placed Averik’s portion down with a quick dip of the head and moved on without trying to join the conversation.
Snow ate near the wall where she wouldn’t be stepped over.
The meal stayed simple. Bram complained about a split practice shaft. Garran told him that breaking it with his own Fire counted as his problem. Evelyn laughed softly into her cup. Averik listened only when something interested him.
By the time they left Unit One, daylight had thinned into evening and then finally into night.
They walked home beneath the red moon.
The weekly Blood Moon surge hadn’t begun yet. The moon was the same permanent red that had hung over Rhevora since the Apocalypse, bright enough to stain the snow and rooflines. Midnight was still hours away.
Snow reached the house first and waited at the door.
Once inside, Evelyn set her spear where it belonged. Averik removed his coat. Neither of them carried the yard’s cold into the room for long.
Evelyn came close while he was unfastening the last strap at his wrist. He looked at her as she hooked two fingers lightly into the front of his shirt. "Averik~ would you bathe with me?"
The way she asked made the answer obvious before he gave it. "Go run the water."
Her smile turned bright. "Mm~ I’ll get it ready."
***
Steam had already softened the bathroom mirror by the time Averik stepped under the shower with her.
The room was built wide enough for more than the tub. The shower occupied one side; the soaking bath sat farther in. Along the opposite corner ran a broad mirror over a waist-high wash counter, with a basin at one end and an open stretch of stone beneath the rest of the glass.
Warm water ran over Evelyn’s hair and down her back. She stood behind Averik first, rubbing soap across his shoulders and along his spine with both hands.
"Would you turn a little for me~?" she murmured. Averik shifted just enough to give her his side.
She worked down his back, then around his waist. When she finished rinsing the soap away, Evelyn stepped in front of him. Her eyes dropped.
A sly curve touched her mouth. "I should clean everything properly, shouldn’t I~?"
Averik rested a shoulder against the wet stone. "You should."
Evelyn sank to her knees beneath the water.
Her fingers wrapped around his cock and slowly stroked from base to head. Water ran over her hands, but it didn’t hide the way she watched him harden in her grip. "Mm... already this hard."
"You sound pleased with yourself."
Her smile answered before her voice did. "I am~" She leaned forward and licked the head before taking it between her lips.
Averik’s hand settled into her wet hair.
Evelyn sucked slowly at first, one hand working the length she hadn’t taken. Her tongue moved along the underside, then circled the head when she pulled back. A soft slurp disappeared beneath the shower.
She met his gaze. Averik tightened his fingers lightly in her hair. "Deeper." Evelyn obeyed.
His cock slid farther into her mouth, then down her throat. Her eyes watered when he reached deep enough to force a small ghk from her. She pulled back just long enough to drag in a breath.
"Again," Averik said, and she took him deeper the second time. GHK. GGK. GULK.
Her throat worked around him. One hand braced against one thigh while her other hand kept stroking his base. She had learned how to relax before taking him again, how to breathe in the spaces between, how to keep her tongue moving even when he held her there for another second.
Averik watched her improve in real time. "You’re getting much better at this."
Evelyn pulled off with a wet slurp and smiled, lips flushed. "Does that feel good?"
"A lot." Evelyn smiled and moved closer on her knees. "Then let me keep going~"
She did.
The rhythm quickened. Wet sounds mixed with the shower while Evelyn alternated between sucking the head and taking him deep enough to gag. Averik’s grip in her hair grew firmer. She didn’t pull away from it. If anything, she leaned into his hand when he guided her down.
"Fuck... Evelyn." Her answering "Mmhn~" vibrated around his cock and pushed him over the edge.
Averik held her head in place. "Take it." His cock pulsed in her mouth. SPURT!
Evelyn swallowed the first heavy release, throat moving around him. GULP. SPURT! More followed. She kept her lips sealed around him until the last pulse passed, then drew back carefully and swallowed again.
Averik cupped her cheek. "Show me."
Evelyn opened her mouth, tongue out, empty. His thumb stroked across her cheekbone. "Good wife."
Evelyn smiled up at him and rose beneath his hand. Averik caught her waist, pulled her against him, and kissed her. Evelyn tasted faintly of him beneath the water.
His hand slid between her thighs.
Two fingers found her pussy already wet.
Averik broke the kiss and looked at her beneath the shower. "You enjoyed that more than you were pretending."
Evelyn’s breath caught when he rubbed over her slick folds. "I wasn’t pretending anything~"
"No?" His fingers pressed a little harder, and her answer thinned into a soft, "Mm... no."
Averik kissed her again, then withdrew his hand. "Mirror."
Evelyn’s eyes flicked toward the broad glass. "Yes, Averik~"
She moved to the counter and leaned forward onto the clear stretch of stone beside the basin. The mirror gave Averik the full sight of her from the front while he stood behind her: wet silver hair over one shoulder, flushed face, large soft breasts hanging beneath her, pale ass raised toward him.
He stepped close and spread her cheeks ass with both hands.
Her pussy was pink and swollen between all that pale skin, slick enough that moisture already ran along the folds.
"Fuck. Look at you." Evelyn watched him through the mirror, breathing faster.
Averik ran his cockhead along her opening. "Your pussy is beautiful. So fucking pink. Soft. Soaked already."
"Averik~ I need you..."
He pushed inside. SQUELCH. Her pussy opened around him, hot and wet enough that the first slide went deep before Evelyn’s hands tightened on the counter. "Ahhn~!"
Averik drove the remaining distance in.
CLAP!
His hips struck her ass. Her breasts swung beneath her. "Ahh... Averik..."
He pulled back, feeling her soft walls drag along his cock, then thrust again.
SQUELCH!
"Look at yourself," he said. "You’re making me even harder."
Evelyn held his gaze in the mirror for two thrusts before her eyelids fluttered.
Averik caught her hip with one hand and drew the other back.
SLAP!
The impact spread red over one soft cheek.
Evelyn gasped.
Her pussy squeezed around his cock so hard that the next thrust slowed.
Averik watched the reaction in the mirror. "Do you like that?"
"Averik~ I... I—"
SLAP!
He hit her other cheek.
Her body jolted. Her pussy clenched again, even tighter. "Ahhn~!"
Averik smiled. "Yeah. You like it. Every time I slap your ass, your pussy squeezes my cock harder. Say it."
"I... I li—ahhhn~!" He drove deep enough to tear the answer apart.
Averik caught a fistful of her wet hair near the nape and made her lift her face toward the mirror.
"Say it clearly." Evelyn’s face had gone red in the mirror, her lips parted.
"I love it, Averik~" Her voice shook as he thrust again. "I really... really love it when you slap my ass. I love how you take me."
"Better." He set a harder rhythm. CLAP! CLAP!
"Ahh~! Mmhn~! Averik...!"
Her large, soft ass rippled against his thighs with each impact. Her breasts swung heavily beneath her. Averik reached around and filled one hand with one of them, holding the heavy softness while he kept driving into her.
His fingers pinched the nipple.
Evelyn shuddered.
Averik opened his hand and struck the breast. SLAP!
"Aahhn~!" Her pussy tightened around him again.
"There too?"
"Y-yes... please, Averik~"
He kneaded her breast and rolled the nipple between his fingers while his other hand held her hip steady.
Averik had been stopping just short of her deepest point, letting the pace build without giving her everything. Now he changed it.
He pulled almost all the way out.
He drove in until his cock reached the end of her soft, soaked pussy, so deep it felt as if the head were kissing the entrance of her womb.
Evelyn broke instantly. SQUIRT!
"AHHHN~!" Warm fluid sprayed around him and ran down his thighs. Her legs shook hard enough that her knees nearly folded.
Averik held her up by the hip and breast. "Again." He struck that deepest point a second time. SQUIRT!
"Ahh... Averik! Mmhn~!"
Her pussy crushed around his cock. Everything between her thighs was soaked now, slickness coating him and running down her pale skin.
Averik thrust into the same place again.
SPRUTT!
Evelyn’s cry broke into a trembling moan. "Ahn~! Ahh... my legs..."
"They’ll hold." She tightened her hands on the counter. "Yes~ I can hold."
Averik leaned over her enough to kiss beneath her ear, then made her look at the mirror again. Her face was flushed, lips open, body shaking beneath him. Her large breasts moved with every thrust. Her ass was red where he’d struck it. Below, her pink pussy swallowed his cock again and again with obscene wet sounds.
SQUELCH. CLAP. SQUELCH.
"Fuck, Evelyn. Your pussy feels incredible." He dragged one hand down over her stomach and held her tight against him. "Soft, soaked, squeezing me like it wants to keep every inch."
"Mm~ yes... yours..."
Averik felt his control start to fray.
He drove all the way in again.
SQUIRT!
Evelyn came hard around him, body seizing, pussy clamping in frantic waves. "AHHH~! Averik!"
The contractions dragged him with her. "Fuck." He drove fully home and pinned her against the counter with his body.
SPURT!
Semen flooded her pussy in a heavy pulse.
His cock throbbed again.
SPURT!
More flooded into her, filling her soaked pussy and womb with his semen. Evelyn trembled around him, pussy still squeezing hard enough to milk each pulse from his cock.
"Mm... ahh~ so much..." Averik gripped her ass and stayed buried until the final throb faded.
The moment he withdrew, semen spilled after him. A thick stream spilled from her wet pink pussy and ran down the inside of her thighs.
Evelyn shivered at the sudden emptiness. She looked at herself in the mirror, then at Averik.
He slapped her ass once more, lighter this time.
Slap.
Her pussy clenched visibly.
Evelyn let out a breathless, helpless laugh. "You saw that."
"I did." Averik kept watching her in the mirror.
"You’re going to use that against me forever, aren’t you?"
"Probably." Her laugh came again, soft and tired.
Averik slid one arm behind her knees and the other around her back.
"Averik~ I can walk."
"I know." The fact changed nothing. He lifted her anyway.
Evelyn curled against him instead of arguing, arms around his neck as he carried her to the soaking tub.
Warm water closed around them. Averik settled behind her with his back against the tub wall and Evelyn between his legs, her body resting against his chest.
For a while, neither spoke.
He kissed her shoulder. Evelyn turned and found his mouth. The kiss was slower now, no urgency left in it. Her fingers traced his forearm while his hand wandered over her breast.
His thumb brushed the nipple until it hardened again. "Mm~ you’re not finished with me?"
"No." His other hand slipped under the water and between her thighs.
Evelyn inhaled sharply. "Averik... please..."
Averik slid two fingers into her still-sensitive pussy and curled them. "Ahhn~!" Her thighs opened wider for him. He kept kissing her while his fingers moved, slow at first, then firmer when her body began following the rhythm. His other hand rolled her nipple between his fingers.
"Mm... ahh~ please... don’t stop." He didn’t, and Evelyn’s back arched against his chest. Water rocked against the tub.
"Averik... I’m... ahh~" His fingers curled again. She came with a sharp, breathless "Ahhh~!"
Her thighs closed around his wrist for a moment, then relaxed. Averik kept his fingers inside until the pulsing eased, withdrew them, and pulled her fully back against him.
Evelyn turned her face and kissed his jaw.
"I love you," she murmured.
Averik drew her closer around the waist and kissed her mouth.
They stayed in the hot water a little longer.
***
Snow was asleep near the hearth when they came out dressed for the night.
The wolf lifted one ear as Averik fastened Roderic’s revolver into the field harness, watched him for a moment without getting up, then let the ear fall again.
Evelyn adjusted the sling on her spear. "She’s staying here?"
"Yes. Let her rest." Averik Answered.
"I’ll make sure the door is secure before we leave~" She glanced once toward the sleeping wolf, then followed Averik to the door.
They went outside again beneath the red moon and into the cold.
Midnight was close enough now to matter. The streets had thinned. Ordinary residents were mostly indoors. Workers finishing late tasks gave armed Frontline members the road without needing to be told, while Awakened moving toward District 1 carried weapons close and walked with purpose.
Unit One had changed since the afternoon.
No alarm had sounded, and nobody was shouting. Even so, conversations had shortened and weapons were already in hand. Several Frontline members were gone from the main yard, spread through District 1 before the weekly surge.
Garran found Averik and Evelyn before they reached the training area.
"There you are." His eyes touched the revolver on Averik’s harness, then Evelyn’s spear. "I’ve already put several people through District One. The three at the wall post just rotated. One of the last watchers said he thought he saw movement outside. Could’ve been Frost Zombies. Could’ve been bad light and snow."
Averik looked toward the outer wall. "Which post?"
"Out of the three watch posts, only one saw it. He was on duty at the post above the main gate. Beyond the gate sector. He caught something moving once and lost it."
That was enough for Averik to check for himself. "I’m going up."
Garran nodded. "Figured you would."
Averik turned toward the wall access. Evelyn matched him immediately, spear in hand.
Behind them, Unit One kept moving through its preparations. Ahead, the stair route toward the wall disappeared between two buildings.
They started walking.