Free Heroes' Reward by Moira J. Moore

quiet respect. “Professor,” she
greeted Saint-Gerard.
    “You’re looking
hale, Private Demaris.”
    Risa looked
magnificent. She always had. Tall and lean with gorgeous dark skin and eyes and
glorious red hair. The red hair looked so much better on her than me.
    “And
disobedient,” Saint-Gerard continued with a smile.
    Risa shrugged.
“The man is an idiot.”
    “He’s not going
to be commanding people if there’s a fight, is he?” Taro demanded.
    “Everyone is
learning.” Saint-Gerard didn’t seem concerned.
    That meant yes.
    We were all
going to die.
    “It will be a
relief to have experts to instruct our other students,” Saint-Gerard continued.
“Please excuse us, Private Demaris. I need to introduce these two to some
people.”
    “Aye, I’ll go
back to marching around in circles. A real brain twister, that is.”
    We followed
Saint-Gerard around the buildings, where we found a whole new group of –
Students? Fighters? Soldiers? I preferred to call them students.
    They were split
into two groups, the space between them great enough that they didn’t interfere
with each other. One group was clearly casting, surrounded by piles of
ingredients I recognized. The other group consisted of Pairs.
    Taro drew in a
harsh breath. “What are they doing?” He pointed at the Pairs.
    “Competing. Or
duelling, if you.”
    “With events?”
    “Aye. One Pair
is creating an event, the other tries to stop them.”
    How unnatural. I
looked at Taro for signs that he was feeling a compulsion to channel, that his
shields were lowering, but nothing happened. “Are you all right?”
    He cocked his
head. “It feels odd.”
    “Isn’t this sort
of thing creating difficulties for the students at the Source Academy?” I asked
Saint-Gerard. “Aren’t they feeling these activities and trying to channel
them?”
    “Taro isn’t the
only one to have developed new abilities over time,” said Saint-Gerard. “We’ve been
able to confine the effects of the channelling to certain areas. Not everyone
has the ability to be quite as precise as Taro, but one of the reasons we moved
to the fringe of the city was to make it easier for us to prevent any events
from being felt in the Academy itself.”
    “So many Pairs
trained in this manner will provide an enormous advantage to the Triple S,” I
suggested. “More than enough to halt any armed fighters, surely.
    “It would be, if
we were the only ones with such Pairs,” said Saint-Gerard. “The Emperor has
been luring in some Pairs of his own.”
    My mouth dropped
open. “There are Pairs voluntarily leaving the Triple S to fight with the
Emperor?”
    Taro looked as
shocked and horrified as I felt. “Why the hell would any of them do that?”
    “We’ve been told
they’ve been promised land. Land they can pass down to their children. And they
are more likely to have children, given Erstwhile is a cold site.”
    It wasn’t
impossible for people who regularly channelled to conceive or sire children,
but it was unusual.
    “We believe the
Emperor hopes these Shields and Sources will produce more Shields and Sources,
and that the Emperor will have whole families who are loyal to him.”
    “But – ” I
stopped myself from saying something stupid. Everyone knew it was illegal for
members of the Triple S to own land, aside from the Academies. It appeared the
Emperor was demonstrating increasing disdain for the law as time went by.
    Taro frowned. “I
would have thought the Emperor would keep such plans a secret. A lot of
regulars would be furious.”
    “We have
knowledge most regulars don’t. Not all the people in the Emperor’s environment
are as loyal to him as he might think.”
    “You have
someone there watching everything?” I was appalled. “You sent someone to spy on
him? That’s too dangerous!”
    “No, we haven’t
sent anyone. There are those around him who disagree with what he is doing and
have been providing us with information.”
    I couldn’t
imagine