Cassian's POV
I rolled sideways as the orc's axe slammed into the ground where my head had been.
"STAY IN FORMATION!" someone screamed, but the formation was already broken. Conscripts scattered like chickens as three orcs tore through our camp. Fires kicked over. Tents collapsing. Men running and dying.
I scrambled backward, my rusty sword shaking in my hands. I'd never fought anything bigger than a rat. Now a massive orc warrior was charging straight at me, roaring in a language I didn't understand.
I was going to die. First night. I was actually going to die.
The orc raised his blade—
An arrow sprouted from his throat.
The orc gurgled and fell. Behind him, real soldiers—veteran fighters—poured into the camp. They moved like water, fast and deadly. In seconds, the three orcs were dead.
"Sound off! Casualties!" an officer barked.
I sat in the dirt, gasping, my whole body shaking. My sword was still in my hand. I hadn't swung it once.
Lyria grabbed my arm. "Cassian! Are you hurt?"
"I—I froze. I just froze." Shame burned through me. Some hero I was.
"You're alive. That's what matters." But her voice was shaking too.
By morning, we counted five conscripts dead. Torn apart before they even reached the war. The veterans wrapped their bodies and didn't say much. This happened all the time, their faces said. Get used to it.
I couldn't stop staring at the bodies. Yesterday they'd been laughing. Complaining about their feet hurting. Now they were just... gone.
"Move out!" the captain ordered. "We're two days behind schedule. Fort Grimwatch by tomorrow night or you'll be marching in the dark!"
We marched like the dead were already forgotten. I kept looking over my shoulder, expecting more orcs. But the veterans just looked bored.
"First battle?" an older soldier asked me, falling into step beside me.
"Is it that obvious?"
"You've got the look. Wide eyes. Jumping at every sound." He spat into the dirt. "You'll either get over it or you'll die. Not much middle ground in war."
"Encouraging," I muttered.
He laughed. "Name's Garrett. Been fighting for twelve years. Seen things that would turn your hair white." He glanced at my rusty sword. "That's a death sentence, by the way. Get a real weapon when we reach the fort."
"With what money?"
"Steal one off a corpse. You'll have plenty of opportunities." He said it like he was suggesting I borrow a cup of sugar.
I wanted to throw up.
Two days later, Fort Grimwatch appeared on the horizon.
It was massive. Stone walls taller than houses, covered with soldiers like ants. Flags snapped in the wind—the kingdom's gold lion, the Holy Radiant Order's silver star. Thousands of people moved in organized chaos. Supply wagons. Horse units. Entire companies drilling in formation.
This was a real army.
I felt smaller than ever.
"Thornwell conscripts, move to processing!" an officer shouted. "Drop your gear at station seven!"
We shuffled through the gates like cattle. The fort was organized madness—smiths hammering weapons, healers setting up medical tents, officers screaming orders. Lyria was immediately pulled away to the healer's section. She shot me one worried look before disappearing into the crowd.
I was alone.
"Fresh meat!" someone laughed. "Look at this one. Still has hope in his eyes!"
I ignored them and found station seven. A bored clerk assigned me to conscript barracks, gave me a bedroll that smelled like death, and pointed toward the training yards.
"Orientation in one hour. Commander Seraphine is giving the welcome speech. Don't be late."
My heart jumped. Commander Seraphine Lightbringer. The hero of the kingdom. The greatest knight alive. I'd heard stories about her since I was a child—how she'd defeated an entire orc warband alone, how she glowed with holy light, how the gods themselves blessed her blade.
I was going to see her. Actually see her.
Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.
An hour later, I stood with thousands of other soldiers in the main courtyard. Conscripts, veterans, officers—everyone was here. The air buzzed with nervous energy.
Then she appeared on the raised platform, and the entire world went silent.
Commander Seraphine Lightbringer was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. Golden hair that caught the sunlight. Eyes like sapphires. Her armor was pure white and seemed to glow with its own light. When she moved, it was like watching an angel walk.
"Soldiers of Valoreth!" Her voice rang out, clear and strong. "Today, you stand at the edge of history!"
Everyone leaned forward. Even the veterans looked mesmerized.
"The orc tribes have invaded our lands!" Seraphine continued. "They burn our villages. Murder our children. Desecrate our temples. They are monsters—savages who know only violence and hate!"
Anger rippled through the crowd. I felt it too, hot and righteous.
"But we are not helpless!" Seraphine raised her sword, and I swear it glowed. "We are humanity's shield! We are the light that drives back the darkness! And with the gods on our side, we CANNOT fail!"
The crowd erupted in cheers. I found myself cheering too, my voice lost in thousands of others.
"Some of you will die in the battles to come," Seraphine said, and the crowd quieted. "But your deaths will mean something. You will die as heroes. As protectors. As the brave souls who saved humanity from extinction!"
Tears ran down my face. I didn't know why. Maybe because someone was finally telling me I could matter. That even a bastard could be a hero.
"So I ask you—will you fight?" Seraphine's voice rose to a roar.
"YES!" the army thundered back.
"Will you stand against the darkness?"
"YES!"
"Will you show these monsters what humanity can do?"
"YES! YES! YES!"
Seraphine smiled, and it was like the sun breaking through clouds. "Then let us march to war. Let us show them the price of attacking our kingdom. Let us make them regret they ever challenged us!"
The cheering was deafening. Men stamped their feet. Beat their shields. I was caught up in it, this wave of purpose and fury. For the first time in my life, I felt like I belonged to something bigger than myself.
I wanted to be like her. Brave. Strong. Someone people looked up to.
I would prove myself in this war. I would become someone worth remembering.
That night, I lay in my bedroll surrounded by snoring soldiers. My rusty sword was beside me. Tomorrow, the real training started. Then the battles. Then my chance to be a hero.
But sleep wouldn't come.
The soldier in the bunk next to mine—Garrett, the veteran—was talking to someone in the darkness.
"Another good speech," Garrett said. "She's got them all fired up."
"She always does," another voice replied. "That's why they love her."
"You believe all that stuff about the orcs being monsters?"
There was a pause. "Doesn't matter what I believe. Orders are orders."
"Yeah, but... you were at Clearwater Village, weren't you? When we—"
"Shut up about Clearwater," the second voice snapped. "That's classified. You want to hang?"
"I'm just saying, the orcs we found there weren't exactly—"
"I said shut up. You didn't see anything. We didn't see anything. That's the official story, and if you want to keep breathing, that's the story you'll tell."
Silence fell.
My heart pounded in the darkness. What happened at Clearwater Village? What weren't they supposed to see?
I told myself it was nothing. Just soldiers talking. Everyone knew war was complicated.
But something cold settled in my stomach. A tiny seed of doubt.
I pushed it away. Commander Seraphine was a hero. The gods blessed her. She wouldn't lie.
Would she?
I was about to drift off when footsteps approached my bunk. I kept my eyes closed, pretending to sleep.
"This him?" a voice whispered. Roderic's voice.
"Yeah. The bastard." A different voice. One of Roderic's officer friends.
"Good. I've got his first assignment. Dawn patrol tomorrow. Section Nine."
"Section Nine? But that's—"
"Exactly. The orcs have been hitting Section Nine every morning for a week. Thirty-seven casualties so far. Perfect place for accidents." Roderic's voice was smiling. "Make sure he's in the front line. Make sure he doesn't have backup. And make absolutely sure someone reports back that he died bravely."
"You're really going to do this?"
"Father's paying me five hundred gold. For that price, I'd kill him myself. But this is cleaner."
Their footsteps faded away.
I lay perfectly still, ice flooding my veins.
Dawn patrol. Section Nine. Tomorrow.
Roderic was sending me straight into a death trap.
And there was nothing I could do to stop it.