Spark of War (Progression Fantasy)

El saluted the generals in the room, spun on her heel, then strode out the open door. Behind her, a guard standing outside closed the door, and she gave the young man – A cadet? – a quick nod of thanks before continuing down the hall. Taking the first turn she found to get out of sight, she leaned heavily against the wall.

Two days since she'd gotten back from the Isles of Pili, and this was the first moment she'd had to herself. After the infirmary – her eyes went down to her bandaged left arm, blue runes glowing stitched in the fabric – she'd been summoned straight to the generals. Sure, Nexin and Laze had already filled them in on what had happened, but they'd still wanted to hear it all again. She'd tried to give them the short version, but they weren't having it. So, she'd given them the story. All of it.

"They finally let you out, huh?" Nidina asked as she came around the same corner El just had. "I was waiting for you the other way. Want to tell me about it?"

El looked at her wingmate – one of the three who'd come with her on their trip to the Isles of Pili to return the Ember – then shook her head. "Food first. I'm starving."

"Mess hall?"

"They have pork bombs," El said, like that answered everything. And, well, it did.

"Let's go, then. I've got a couple updates for you as well, and Felps is looking for you too. After you've got some food in you. I know you won't hear a thing I say until you've eaten."

With another nod, El pushed herself off the wall and walked beside the other woman toward the Firestorm mess hall. They didn't talk along the way, Nidina obviously sensing El's fatigue – and knowing her one-track mind when it came to food. Especially the fiery pork bomb, mark two.

El tried to reflexively reach up with her left hand to wipe the back of her mouth in anticipation, but the sharp spike of pain and bound arm turned that into a wince.

"You okay?" Nidina snaked her hand under El's good arm to catch her as she stumbled.

"Yeah. Just…" El shrugged her left shoulder as much as she could under the tight bindings. "Not used to this."

"Does it still hurt? The… the doctors thought it was pretty bad."

"You talked to them?"

"Some of the nurses, while I was checking on Dayne."

"You mean when you were smothering him with a pillow?"

"He wouldn't sleep."

"Still needs to breathe."

"He's fine."

El raised an eyebrow, and Nidina put on her best innocent-face. "Whatever," El grumbled, making a mental note to check on the big guy after food. "And, yeah, it hurts, but the pain isn't too bad. More… my balance is shot. Never realized how much I used the arm without thinking about it, even when I'm walking."

Nidina's face went from innocent to disbelieving pretty quickly. The woman had seen the state of El's ruined arm. Charred, flayed, and little more than bone with the occasional gooey bit in a lot of places. That wasn't even counting the broken hand, shattered fingers, and five other fractures the doctors mentioned.

"It's fine," El quickly said as Nidina opened her mouth. "I'm fine. Really. Just burning hungry. We there yet?"

The rhetorical question got answered as they rounded the next corner to step into the noise of the bustling mess hall. The usually bustling mess hall, that was actually so quiet the squeak of El's boots on the floor practically echoed from one end of the perfectly lined-up tables to the other.

"Uh…" El started, eyes snapping to the food stalls along the side wall. "They closed?" Even as she asked, she spotted all the vendors eyeing her like hawks, each sizing her up to guess where she'd go. As soon as they recognized who she was, all but one collectively sighed and went about their business.

Only the sandwich artist nodded solemnly in her direction, and she returned the gesture. The man knew his business, and she was there for it.

"Deployments started," Nidina said. "One of the things I was going to update you on."

El grunted in response, then started towards the man making her lunch.

"I… I'll get a seat," Nidina said. "Hopefully you don't have any trouble finding me…" the woman trailed off, and El heard her boots echo with every step as she headed for their usual table.

"Corporal," the sandwich artist said as El approached.

"Sergeant now," El said. "That's not important though. That the mark two?"

"Of course. Usual toppings?"

El eyed left and right, then leaned in, her voice low. "Double them."

"Are you mad?!" the man practically bellowed, his voice echoing through the cavernous hall. Vendor heads snapped in his direction at the outburst, and he scowled back before leaning in. Quieter, he asked again, "Are you mad? Double? The last person who had double is still in the infirmary."

"I can take it," El said. "Besides, I just came from the infirmary."

"Then I don't want to send you back!"

"Just do it. I can handle it."

"I…" the man started, but cut off as El slapped her good hand down on the counter.

"Double."

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"Fine!" he answered, throwing up his hands. "I want it on record I warned you."

"Noted." El leaned back, though the man across from her looked from her face to her bandaged arm.

"You… okay?"

"Just hungry."

He looked again from her face to her arm. "I'll throw in a side of 'slaw. On the house."

"Thanks," El said, licking her lips as the sandwich in front of her came together. The masterpiece in front of her. Why hadn't she ever asked for double toppings before? As the man put the final piece in place and lifted the knife, however, she held up her hand, heat rushing up her neck.

"Cor… er… Sergeant?" the artist asked, knife paused above the middle of the sandwich.

The words were stuck in El's throat… the shame at what she was about to ask almost making her swallow them back down. She couldn't, though. Especially not with double toppings. She just needed to suck it up and ask, no matter how embarrassing it was.

"The… can you…" she stopped and started. "Can you… cut it into… into quarters?" she finished, barely above a whisper.

Knife still frozen in the air, the sandwich artist glanced one more time to El's bandaged arm, then with three quick cuts, separated the meal into four equal parts. "For you? Of course."

"Thanks," El said, though she couldn't look the man in the eye until the sandwich was tightly wrapped in wax paper and placed on a tray.

"Here's the 'slaw," the man held up a small bowl, "as well as extra napkins and the biggest glass of water I could find. Don't die."

"Hah. You're not the first person to give me that advice in the last few days," El said, thinking back to the Pilish gunslinger, Tas.

"It's good advice."

"It is. Thanks. I may be back for seconds later."

"I'll be here."

El picked up the tray with one hand, taking a second to get the balance right, then headed over to join Nidina at their usual table. Other than the two of them, there were only four other Firestorm in the entire hall, and from the looks of them, they'd also just gotten out of the infirmary.

"Did I hear him say double toppings?" Nidina asked as El sat down. "I am not carrying you to the doctors again."

"Everybody worries too much," El said, carefully unwrapping the glorious – bulging – fiery pork bomb, mark two. Then, without another word, she scooped up one of the quarters in her good hand and went to work.

So. Burning. Good.

The spice of double ingredients really was at a whole other level, the heat reminding her of the exploding Ember back in Wirock. Except it was all in her mouth. And it was delicious.

El practically purred as she ate it, and Nidina couldn't do anything but shake her head.

"Only you," Nidina chuckled with a shake of her head. That was the last thing the other woman said until El stuffed the last corner of sauce-soaked bread into her mouth a few minutes later.

"I can't believe I never got double before. That was the best thing ever. I need another one," El said, starting to stand, until a hand dropped onto her shoulder and pushed her back down into her seat.

"Got you covered," Laze said, dropping another wax-wrapped package in front of El. "Sandwich guy said something about you not spontaneously combusting, so he put double toppings on this. I tried to stop him… but he insisted. Should I…?" Laze trailed off as El ripped open the wrapping and tore into the second sandwich.

"Well, might as well get comfy," Nidina said to Laze. "She'll be a few minutes."

When El finally pushed the final bite into her mouth, she leaned back on the mess-hall bench, looked to the ceiling, and let out a contented sigh. "I finally feel alive again."

A flare of power at her fingertips ignited a blue flame to consume the last of the sticky sauce there – getting that on her uniform just wasn't acceptable – and she stared at the blue fire. Was it just her imagination, or was it brighter?

"El," Laze said, her voice dropping in that dangerous way it did when a lecture was coming. "Pretty sure the doctors would be having a fit seeing you use your Spark when it's supposed to be focused on healing you."

"Ah." El snapped her hand shut, the flames vanishing into her fist like they'd never been there. "Sorry, post-pork-bomb-euphoria."

"I'm seriously not sure why you're not lit up like the Pyre right now," Nidina said. "I'm sweating just from being across the table from that much spice."

"You should give it a try," El responded. "You even get extra 'slaw."

"That was extra? You inhaled it in one go."

"Balances the heat out with a hit of tang," El explained. "Laze, thanks for the second one. Hit the spot."

"No problem," Laze said. "Thought you might need it after the all-nighter with the generals."

"Ugh."

"You want to tell us about it?"

"I…"

"Come on," Nidina said. "You'll feel better."

El leaned forward to put her good elbow on the table. "Pretty much what you'd expect. I started with how our small wing of four Firestorm arrived in Pili from the short trip through the In-Between. That far into the story and Cannon already had questions. After that, it was how we'd found the group of ragged civvies running for their lives from the pack of scaled bears."

Nidina and Laze both nodded, having been there.

"Those burning bears live up to their names," Nidina said. "Did you explain how they were practically walking tanks?"

"Except when you shoot them in the eye," Laze chuckled, referring to when Tas had done just that.

"Yeah, then they become pissed off walking tanks."

"I gave them all the details," El said. "Including how one of the bears punched through my frost armor."

"And the real reason the people were running?" Laze asked. "Uh, I mean, the bears were a good reason to run, but the bigger picture reason?"

"Yeah. We got into the Pilish conscription, and how they were hooking soldiers and civvies alike up to their weapons of war. Lot of questions about that too. Spent a good hour talking about what I knew of the Pilish weapons. I think they were annoyed I didn't bring one back for them to see."

"Not as annoyed as Felps will be," Nidina said.

El groaned and shook her head. "Didn't you say he wanted to talk to me too?"

"Yeah. We should go see him after we finish here. You know his weapons are going to be needed against the seawyrms."

"What did the generals have to say about the seawyrms?" Laze asked.

"Whoa, cutting way ahead in the story there," El joked. "I still had to talk about the monkeys, the killer vines, the destroyed fort towns, and the hangnails before we even got close to the seawyrms. And, let me tell you, we spent another hour talking about those clawed freaks."

"Makes sense. They make up the bulk of the enemy's troops," Nidina said.

El nodded, remembering her encounters against the child-sized monsters with the three sword-like claws on each hand.

"After extensive discussion on how best to fight them," El continued, "they finally let me move on to the trip on the Bucking Bride – Captain Bits's ship – and the journey to Wirock. Of course, we had to pause again for more information on both the Pilish warship and the seawyrm we encountered on the way. To say the generals are nervous about sending groundies on ships is a vast understatement, and very understandable."

"Every body of water is suddenly threatening," Nidina said. "Sure, Balacin is in the middle of the continent, but there are rivers and lakes all over the place. One even running right through the city. We could have a seawyrm popping up in our own backyard."

"Wirock is not close," Laze said. "Oh, don't get me wrong, I don't think we're safe here, but it'll take them weeks to get here."

"Assuming they didn't already start coming months ago," El said. "You heard what Sol said, they already emptied that city on the coast of Vestis. They aren't just mindless monsters. You saw those blue people on Wirock, and the whole ring system that sucked Sparks in to open to the gate to… wherever."

"And that avatar," Nidina chimed in. "The one Bits called the Depths. There's planning there. We can't take anything for granted. We're going to have to watch the coasts, and the rivers leading towards the city."

"But, how else are we going to get troops to Pili?" Laze asked. "Even if we send every Firestorm we have, I don't think it'll be enough. We lost too many in the war against Guld, then more in the final battle with the golem. Maybe if it was just hangnails, but the seawyrms, blue guys – we need a name for them – and the Depths?

"We need the groundies and their numbers if we want to have a chance. Do the generals have a plan?"

El sighed. "They do. Me."