Iglika: For a while after, I still tried to pretend that body couldn't have been hers. It wasn't grief—not really.
Iglika: It was because without her it felt like nothing could really change.
Iglika: And in the end, I was right. The flags were swapped, for a little while, but it all meant nothing.
Iglika: We held the city for all of six days.
Iglika: The counterattack began the next morning—fierce, unrelenting. The occupiers had pulled up every reserve from across their domain.
Iglika: The so-called provisional government didn't even get to hold a vote. They were too busy fighting for their lives.
Artilleryman Ivan: Captain! The occupiers have broken through on the south side!
Iglika: There's no sense wasting our lives here—retreat!
Iglika: The only thing we got out of that city was Ivan's artillery gun.
Iglika: He made good use of it, just like he said he would.
Artilleryman Ivan: Someday.
Iglika: We returned to Thermaniky in shame.
Iglika: But I never expected that I would admit defeat ...
Iglika: Our cause was already fractured, but by the time we had settled in, they were turning their guns on their own.
Iglika: What happened?!
Shepherd: At the d-docks. Just a scuffle, but it turned ugly.
Humans and arcanists, they had kept an uneasy coalition up until now.
After the failure in Czreszewo, their hatred only deepened. Each blaming the other for their losses.
The arcanists were blamed for failing to heed orders and making reckless and costly assaults.
While the humans were mocked as weak and cowardly. Failures in communication on both sides did little to help.
Shepherd: One dead, five wounded—including civilians.
Shepherd: Three arcanists have been sentenced to death. Rumor is ...
Shepherd lowers his voice.
Iglika: Keep it simple.
Shepherd: They won't accept it. They're—they're rebelling.
Command: Three, two, one. Fire!
Shepherd: It's starting!
By the time she reaches the yard, one of the prisoners has already crumbled before the firing squad.
Iglika: Stop!
People ring the courtyard walls. At her shout they turn as one, like starving wolves, fixing her with hungry eyes.
As if she's the outlet for their rage.
Iglika: This isn't just! This isn't what we're fighting for!
The executioner glances at her, then turns back to the soldiers, signaling them to continue.
Executioner: Careful, Iglika, you're an arcanist too.
Command: Three, two ...
Angry Voice: You're just looking for a scapegoat!
Iglika: Wait!
No one knows who fired or whose sins the bullet carried.
The prisoners on the scaffold are untouched, but blood pours from the executioner's forehead.
Executioner's Soldier I: We're under attack!
The squad swings their barrels, and the yard erupts into chaos.
Figures rise from the walls. It wasn't a one-sided revolt. Both sides had prepared.
Dodging stray bullets, Iglika and Shepherd retreat beneath the scaffolding.
Shepherd: Those must be Boyan's and ... Vesna's men.
Shepherd: They're the top lieutenants of the human and arcanist factions.
Iglika hasn't had much time to learn about either of them.
Iglika: Tell our people—grab that one and that one.
She points at two who look like leaders.
Iglika: Take them first.
Shepherd: Yes, ma'am.
COMBAT
Iglika: Cease fire!
She drags the two instigators up onto the scaffold, and her troops force the factions apart.
Seeing their leaders in her grip, the fighters falter, soon disarmed by Iglika's men.
Iglika: Shepherd! Find some medics for the wounded!
Shepherd: On it!
The medics rush in to carry off the injured.
Below, the others stare up at Iglika and their captured leaders, uncertain.
Iglika: Infighting, really?!
Iglika: Nusha, what did your life buy us?
Iglika: How many brothers and sisters did we lose at Czreszewo?
Iglika: And now your unfinished task falls to me.
Dead silence.
Iglika: Do we have any time for this?
Iglika's voice rises, ringing out.
Iglika: We are the Thracian Liberation Front! We're meant to unite this land, to build a home of our own!
Iglika: I can't let your death mean nothing ... I have to unite them, like you did.
Iglika: Are we not all comrades? We eat from the same soil, drink from the same rivers.
Iglika: We lived together, shared one dream.
Faces of the fallen surface in Iglika's mind, each carrying a piece of home.
Nusha had brought them together, filling the map.
Iglika: How could I watch that map fall apart?!
Iglika: Look around you! Our enemies are not here. They're in Czreszewo, waiting for us.
She steps forward. Fighters glance at each other, not knowing what to do.
Iglika: Do you think we have the bodies to spare?
???: General!
The gunshot draws every soldier's attention. One of them snaps to attention, saluting toward the doorway.
Following the sound, several soldiers escort an older man inside.
Though his face shows age, he stands tall and straight. Behind him trail a hardened male officer and a languid female soldier.
Iglika: Boyan and Vesna?
Shepherd: Yes, and that's got to be General Spase.
Shepherd whispers the name into her ear.
Iglika: They're just pawns ... Someone higher up is calling the shots.
With Spase's arrival, the soldiers stiffen, fixing their uniforms.
Boyan: Pick up your guns! Get out! Worthless dogs.
The human troops fall into line and march out.
Then the woman speaks, and Iglika recalls her face—the reckless arcanist commander she saw at the recruitment ceremony.
Vesna: Let's go.
She shrugs, leading her people away.
The two minor captains exit with their men as the tall old man approaches.
General Spase: You did well just now. You're the girl Nusha brought in, aren't you?
His face is kind, his tone unassuming. Were it not for the way he stands, he'd seem no different from any old man on the street.
Iglika: She ... fell in Czreszewo.
She lifts the hand still stitched with a scrap of cloth. The grip of her gun has frayed it loose.
General Spase clasps her hand, patting the back gently.
General Spase: She was a good child ...
Iglika: ...
The words strike Iglika as strange.
General Spase: Thank you, child. I do believe that verdict was biased. But I never expected things to spiral like this.
General Spase: Our loss at Czreszewo has hit us harder than we knew ...
He sighs.
General Spase: We might well have lost even more to this madness if it weren't for you. You did well.
Iglika: I doubt I was the first of us to hear about this.
The old man studies her with a smile.
General Spase: Careful, or that sharp edge of yours will cut deeper than you expect.
Iglika: What about them?
She points to the two prisoners cowering by the wall.
General Spase: Don't worry, child. We'll investigate the matter thoroughly.
General Spase: When the time comes, rewards and punishments will be meted out ... but not now.
Her doubtful gaze meets his, only to be softened by his strange kindness.
General Spase: We've already lost too many ... and too much is left undone. Too many want a reason for their comrades' deaths. In their haste, they reach for whatever is near.
General Spase: Our ranks are in shambles. We need someone like you, someone who can unite them again.
He smiles with satisfaction.
Iglika: You mean ...?
...
Iglika: He gave me command of a force three times the size of our old unit.
Iglika: Then just like that, I was off to the Oreinósian border.
Iglika: I never learned the final verdict.
Iglika: I was already mired in skirmishes and battle plans; rumors from the city were few and far between.