The relay post was supposed to be the safest place in a siege. That's what they said—solid stone, lines of sight, every wall checked by Stonealign himself. But tonight it felt like the eye of a storm that didn't know how to stop spinning.
I hunched over the battered relay stone, both paws on the cracked crystal, trying to force a signal through static. The comm line hiccupped, spitting sparks and garbled system alerts. [User: Relay connected.] [Signal Quality: Critical.] [Node Error. Reset Required.] If I'd had time, I'd have thrown it out and started yelling instead.
Cinders paced behind me, tail snapping, apron and arms streaked with flour and what looked suspiciously like blood. She kept glancing back toward the kitchens—her kitchens—but she wouldn't leave the post, not yet. "They're late coming from the lower shelters. If those kids got stuck again—" She didn't finish. She never finished complaints when she was worried.
