Chapter 290: The Muster Opens

Ren read the staging notice at Halvern’s desk.

Sixty-four Lords had been divided into eight groups of eight. Each group would compete in Territory, Harvest, Siege and Lordless War, using separate instances with equivalent conditions for that round. First place earned eight championship points, second earned seven, down to one for eighth.

After four rounds, each group’s highest total advanced to the quarterfinals. Tied totals were settled by placing in Lordless War, then Siege, Harvest and Territory. The notice included Territory’s own procedure for tied scores; the later formats would publish theirs with their detailed rules.

Ren turned to his group assignment. Greave and Roan were among his seven opponents. He checked the other five names against the registrations he had copied, then looked at Halvern.

"Sol is elsewhere."

"Sixth group. You might meet him in the knockout rounds if you both advance." Halvern tapped the second page. "Look at the ground you’re fighting on first."

— • —

The map showed a long basin, with broken stone along one side and thick vegetation across the middle. At the far end, channels crossed heated ground where steam obscured parts of the drawn surface. Pools and narrow waterways connected the sectors, their depths marked beside them.

Ren traced those routes before looking at the scoring positions.

The deepest passage was too shallow for either whale. Riptide could use it, and the connected channels gave Tarin a route between sectors, but Ward and Wake would have little room to move. He crossed them off his provisional choices for the round.

Six scoring positions were marked. The two highest values lay far apart: one on a lower shelf of the stone ridge, the other among the hot channels. Four smaller positions occupied a pool junction, the edge of the vegetation and two stretches of open ground between them.

Ren laid his roster beside the map.

Bolt could move between the open positions, while Tarin’s group had access to the pool junction. The growth concealed the approach to another position. Holding several would require the squad to spread, and the other seven teams would be choosing from the same six objectives.

He couldn’t know where they would concentrate. He could see which routes offered him alternatives if a position became too expensive to hold.

Pell’s name had a mark beside it from the briefing. An opposing entrant inside a scoring boundary paused its owner’s score, even if the challenger couldn’t stay long enough to take control.

Ren checked the high-value positions more closely. A channel reached into the boundary on the ridge’s lower shelf; the water at the hot end passed through the second marked area. Pell could reach both in its Lawfire. Water merely passing nearby wouldn’t have been enough, and he checked the exits as carefully as the approaches.

The channels gave Pell a possible route in and out. They didn’t tell him whether an opponent would leave that route open.

He added the courier to the sixteen points he had been considering.

Vesper with Mistwhisker, three. Keep and Riptide, two each. Bolt, two. Tarin, three. Eira, Lantern and Pell, two each.

Eighteen.

Lantern’s light could expose movement where the shaded path emerged from the vegetation. It wouldn’t reveal anyone behind solid leaves or stone, but a watcher at the exit could warn the squad before someone reached the open approach. Keep’s spores would carry the reports of those who saw the movement.

He compared that crossing with the next one downstream. The first offered a shorter approach to the pool junction, but the second left more room to turn back. He marked both on the squad’s copy, leaving Vesper a route to use if the first became blocked.

Ren marked the nearest crossing as their first approach, then copied the eight entries onto the deployment form and submitted it.

— • —

The squad was waiting when he reached the cove.

Orun and Sethe had cleared the beach approach and were directing the guide runs back to the northern landing. A few residents watched from the slope above the frame. Below them, Vesper checked the route on Ren’s copy of the map while Eira secured her wrap.

Keep sat in a fitted support on Riptide’s back. Ren checked the declared carrier equipment against the straps holding it in place, then put a hand beneath the cradle’s edge. It rested above the surface while the serpent held position.

"Take it through the turn," he said.

Riptide crossed the cove and curved around the rock arm. The support tilted as it accelerated out of the turn, and Ren called it back. He adjusted the fastening while Vesper held the cradle level, then had them repeat the movement.

This time the mount stayed seated. Riptide turned the other way, increased speed and stopped before the beach. Ren checked beneath the support for rubbing before moving on.

"Now set Keep down."

Riptide approached a low, dry shelf. Vesper released the retaining strap while Ren steadied the cradle, and together they guided it onto the rock. They reversed the transfer, securing the strap again before Riptide moved away.

They repeated it with Vesper handling the fastening and Tarin steadying the load. Ren stood back for that attempt. If the cradle had to leave Riptide inside the arena, they needed to manage it without him.

"Find covered ground before you unload," he told them. "Call the position, leave someone with Keep and keep the pickup route clear. Don’t dive while the cradle is mounted."

Vesper checked the shelf and the space around it, then nodded to Tarin.

Tarin pointed to a bend on the map where dry stone lay beside the channel. Vesper marked it as a possible transfer point, then checked the approach through the vegetation. They would still have to see whether it was occupied before using it.

Keep distributed its spores to the seven other entries. Ren watched Vesper receive one on her sleeve and Eira on her wrap, then checked Tarin, Bolt, Lantern, Pell and Riptide against the list.

"Run the report checks again when you reach staging," he said. "You know the delay from practice. Confirm what you’re receiving before you start using it to direct movements."

"And if we lose a carrier?" Vesper asked.

"Mark the missing report. Use the direct calls and sightings you rehearsed. Don’t keep moving on its last position as though nothing happened."

He went over the command chain once more. Vesper commanded the squad, Tarin directed the water group under her, and Eira set treatment priorities and called when an entrant couldn’t continue.

Pell stood beside the map as Ren indicated the two distant positions.

"You contest when there’s a clear route out. If they close the channel, pull back before you’re trapped. Don’t turn an interruption into a fight you can’t leave."

"I’ll check the exit before I enter."

The frame began to hum. Pale light filled the opening across the waterline, revealing a sheltered staging bank and a shallow channel beyond. The residents on the slope moved closer together to see it.

Vesper crossed with Mistwhisker beside her. Bolt, Eira and Lantern followed along the bank, while Tarin and Pell took the water. Riptide carried Keep through last, keeping the support clear of the frame.

Ren checked the emptied approach. Orun and Sethe remained at its edges, ready to keep it clear for a return.

He left them there and went up past the flowers to step out of his world. The squad would wait in secured staging while he reached the hall and completed the channel check.

— • —

The public seating was filling when Ren entered.

Yuelan called from a row near the aisle, raising an arm until he saw her. Lyra sat beside her, and Cassian had taken the end place with his treatment slate on his knee. Iris leaned forward as Ren approached.

"If one of them is extracted, can it return after treatment?"

"Not during the same round."

She nodded and sat back. Yuelan began pointing out how much of the viewing floor they could see from their places. Cassian moved his slate clear of the aisle as another spectator passed, then looked toward Ren’s section.

"Good luck," Lyra said as Ren turned to go.

He thanked her and continued down the aisle. Above, Selene stood at the gallery rail with the terms in her hand. She saw him look up and gave a small nod before returning her attention to the floor.

Halvern was already in the sponsors’ area. Ren caught his eye across the aisle and held up the folded deployment copy. Halvern nodded toward his assigned seat; an attendant was waiting there with the channel instructions.

Ren found his name in the third seating section and took his place.

— • —

A marked command plate had been fitted beside his seat.

The attendant checked his declared receiver, Vesper, then showed him where to place his fingers while speaking. His words would reach her through the event channel. It carried no answer back.

Ren tested the touch as instructed, then left the plate alone while the attendant continued along the row.

The viewing surface brightened. Separate marked views showed the group arenas; the one serving Ren’s assigned section expanded to display the basin from above. He found the stone shelf, the belt of vegetation and the heated channels on the far side.

The layout matched the notice, though steam and the height of the growth hid more than the map had suggested. The water route past the central belt disappeared beneath overhanging leaves before emerging near the pool junction. Ren located both ends and checked the path Vesper would take beside it.

An official stepped forward for the extraction demonstration.

The display changed to a marked test participant walking across clear ground. Mid-step, light enclosed the figure and it vanished. The next view showed it arriving in an event receiving area, where an attendant approached before directing it toward a return passage.

"Extraction removes an entrant from the current round," the official said. "From the receiving area, it is routed to its authorized home gate. It cannot be redeployed during that round."

Ren looked beyond the test participant. There was open floor for attendants to work, but the demonstration used someone who could stand and walk.

"What happens if an entrant can’t move?" he asked the attendant beside his section.

"Recovery staff assist the transfer. Your authorized receiving site must remain clear."

Ren pictured the cove, with the dry beach beside the channel and the two haulers keeping the approach open. He noted the answer beside the return-route instructions.

The demonstration ended, and the group views returned to their staging areas.

"Lords, complete your channel checks."

— • —

Ren waited while the attendants worked through the seats in his section. On the surface, teams stood behind their marked staging boundaries. Greave’s crew waited near stacked equipment; Roan’s two heavy fighters occupied most of the space beside their handler. No one had been released onto the scoring ground.

When his turn came, Ren touched the plate.

"Vesper. Raise your hand."

His staging view enlarged. She stood near the water with Mistwhisker at her ankle. Eira and Lantern waited on the bank, while Tarin and Pell held beside Riptide and Keep. Bolt was farther forward, still behind the boundary.

Vesper raised her hand. Ren watched it remain above her head until the attendant recorded the response, then she lowered it.

"Confirmed."

Ren lifted his fingers from the plate. She had heard him. He looked from her position to the crossing they had chosen and waited while the remaining channels were checked.

Across the basin, all six scoring positions lit at once. Their boundaries showed clearly over water and stone, with the value of each displayed beside it. The scores remained at zero while the squads waited behind their staging marks.

At the signal, Vesper led them toward the nearest crossing.