ShadowBound: The Need For Power

"Chris," Sheila said, voice steady. "Report."

The word was simple. Not warm. Not hostile. Command-shaped.

Chris’s mouth tightened, but he answered. Too many students were watching for him not to. "Twenty-three students arrived with me from the southern approach. Several injuries, none fatal. No extractions. No one left behind from my group."

Sheila nodded once. "How many injured?"

"Mela has the current report. One arm injury requiring continued treatment, one head wound with dizziness, one student with Myst depletion, several minor cuts and bruises. Some fatigue from movement."

She looked toward Mela. "Confirm?"

Mela glanced briefly at Chris, then answered. "Yes. The arm injury needs proper rest soon. The head wound is stable but should be watched. The depleted student should not cast unless necessary."

"Good. Mela, stay close. I will need names and conditions shortly." Sheila turned back to Chris. "Threats encountered on the way?"

"Glassmaws. Six students rescued from a mist pocket. We handled the threat and added them to the group."

Several of the rescued students looked toward Chris with genuine gratitude at that, and Sheila noticed. She did not diminish it.

"You brought them here intact," she said. "That was well done."

Chris felt the compliment land wrong, not because it was false, but because it was clean. Public respect with no surrender inside it. She had acknowledged his competence without giving him control of the moment.

"Who is currently inside Veyrhold?" she asked.

"Hawthorne entered earlier with Hunter," Chris said. "Hunter has since gone deeper to scout. Hawthorne remains near the southern entry. Kara Cale is on the wall. Some of the gate students were placed outside by Hawthorne and Hunter’s instructions."

Sheila’s eyes moved briefly to the wall, then the gate. "What section has been cleared?"

"The immediate southern entry. A Mauler pack was engaged before command arrived. The Alpha is dead. The courtyard sustained damage."

There it was.

He let the words sit.

Sheila did not react the way he wanted.

"What damage?" she asked.

"Fire damage across the courtyard stone, structural cracking, partial side-wall collapse, damage to the fountain, frost residue, barracks entry torn wider, storage structure further compromised."

"And casualties?" Sheila asked.

Chris paused. "None reported from their engagement."

"Injured students kept from entering during the fight?"

His jaw tightened faintly. "Yes. The gate students were ordered to keep arriving students outside."

"Gate usable?"

"Yes."

"Main approach clear?"

"Yes."

"Structures still standing?"

"Mostly."

"Southern entry usable as a controlled intake point?"

Chris held her gaze. "Yes."

The broader truth became clear around them without Sheila accusing him of twisting anything. He had emphasized damage and procedure. Her questions completed the picture. There had been a dangerous Mauler pack. Liam and Asher had engaged it before a larger tired group walked in. No students were lost. The gate remained usable. The approach was clear. The structures were damaged but not ruined.

Chris hated how efficiently she had done it.

Sheila looked up. "Kara Cale."

Kara leaned over the broken parapet, bow still in hand. "Yes, Commander."

The title was not loud, but it shifted the attention of every student below.

Sheila did not pause on it. "Your report."

Kara adjusted her footing on the wall. "There were around ten ordinary Gravebound Maulers in the southern entry section, possibly slightly more including wounded ones that emerged later. Sir Hawthorne and Hunter handled the main fight. I supported from the wall with Ice Magic arrows. The ordinary Maulers were strong, but their joints and throat folds could be targeted."

Chris’s expression hardened slightly at the respectful tone.

Sir Hawthorne. Hunter. Main fight.

Kara continued, "The Alpha Mauler had much thicker armor than the others. My arrows could not pierce it directly. Even ice reinforcement shattered on the plating. They had to crack the armor first. Sir Hawthorne heated and pressured the same plate repeatedly, I froze the heated cracks when signaled, and Hunter used narrow fire pulses to drive force inward. Some of the courtyard damage came from the Alpha itself. It used a sound-pressure roar. It shook the stone, disrupted movement, and caused cracks. That ability was not in the guide."

A ripple passed through the gathered students.

Sheila’s eyes sharpened. "Not in the guide?"

"No," Kara said. "At least, not in the Mauler entry I read. It was not normal roaring. It hit the wall hard enough to make me nearly lose footing."

Sheila nodded slowly, absorbing that. "So some of the damage was caused by an unrecorded Alpha ability."

"Yes."

"And Liam and Asher adjusted their fight to prevent further structural damage?"

Kara looked down into the courtyard, then back to Sheila. "Yes. They pulled it away from the barracks and gate. The fountain was destroyed, and one side wall partially collapsed, but if they had fought it near the gate or the barracks, the damage would have been worse."

Chris kept his face still.

The story was slipping.

Not entirely, but enough.

Sheila turned toward the gate. "Asher."

From inside Veyrhold came an annoyed voice. "What?"

"I need your threat report."

A moment later, Asher appeared near the entry with his longsword still lowered at his side, the blade stained dark and his uniform marked with soot and fluid. He looked at Sheila, then at Chris, then at the crowd as if every person present had conspired to become his problem.

"I just finished fighting a screaming rock-beast," he said. "Now I am giving reports?"

Sheila remained calm. "Yes."

"It was a Mauler," Kara called down.

Asher pointed up without looking. "Do not join his correction cult."

Sheila’s mouth barely moved, almost a smile but not quite. "I am not asking for politics. I am asking for the threat report."

Asher exhaled through his nose, irritated but not unwilling. "Fine. Mauler pack in the southern quarter. More than expected. Big ugly Alpha came out after the smaller ones started dying. Armor was thick enough to make normal weak-point cuts mostly useless. It had some bellow that shook stone and messed with movement. Not in the guide. Kara held the wall and stopped things from crawling back into the fight or toward the gate. Shadow bastard went deeper to scout because apparently standing near royalty makes his bones itch."

Chris’s eyes narrowed at the insult, though it had not even been aimed at him this time.

Sheila asked, "Southern entry status?"

"Clear enough to process students," Asher said. "Not clear enough for everyone to wander inside like brainless cattle. Barracks still needs checking. Storage house is half-dead. Wells unknown. Drainage channels unknown. Courtyard has corpses and cracks. Gate is fine unless someone does something stupid, which, looking around, is always possible."

Several students shifted uncomfortably.

Sheila accepted the answer without flinching. "Any immediate threat near the gate?"

"Not unless late-arriving peacock here starts one."

Chris’s gaze snapped to him.

Asher smiled without warmth.

Sheila’s voice cut in before the exchange could ignite. "That is enough."

Asher rolled his shoulders and looked away, clearly finished with politics in all forms.

Sheila turned to Mela. "You arrived with Chris’s group?"

Mela straightened, visibly nervous now that attention had moved to her. "Yes."

"I need confirmation from someone who approached the gate with him. What were you told when you arrived?"

Mela’s eyes flicked to Chris.

He noticed.

Everyone noticed.

But he said nothing.

Mela swallowed and answered carefully. "The gate students told us not to enter because Hawthorne and Hunter had ordered no bulk entry until the path was checked. Kara Cale confirmed from the wall that the southern section had Maulers and that the fight inside was not fully cleared. The instruction seemed to be about safety, not disrespect."

Chris disliked every word after confirmed.

He disliked more that he could not challenge it in front of Sheila without looking exactly as petty as Logan sometimes sounded.

Sheila nodded. "Thank you."

Mela seemed relieved the exchange ended there.

Then Sheila began counting.