“Yes,” Martin agreed, though his eyes narrowed in the direction of the shout. “We all know our former brother, Garret Xavier Sebastian. And we all know what he has done. However...” His voice dropped, becoming low and commanding. “I brought Sebastian here—he is under my protection and the protection of this chapterhouse. Which means,” he went on, his expression hardening, “no one under my command will do him any harm whatsoever. Sebastian is not a prisoner. He will be allowed to move about the base freely, and he will not be treated any differently than anyone else. If I hear of anyone throwing so much as a spitball in his direction, they’ll be spending the rest of the day in a cell. I hope I have made myself perfectly clear on this.”

A stunned, angry silence followed his announcement. Many of the soldiers were staring at Martin like he had gone insane, and the others were glaring at me with undisguised loathing. “Sebastian is here for a reason,” Martin went on, taking advantage of the shock, or choosing to ignore it. “Because he has been among the enemy, he has information that you all need to hear. I suggest you listen to what he has to say and reserve judgment until you’ve heard the entire story. Sebastian?” He half turned to me, nodding. “It’s all yours.”

I stepped forward, meeting the angry glares head-on. “Talon is coming,” I said over the angry murmurs of the crowd. “They have an army, and they intend to use it to destroy the Order once and for all. Their plan is to attack every St. George chapterhouse in a single night and strike a crippling blow against the Order. One that we’ll never recover from.”

“You’re full of shit, Sebastian,” called a soldier, perhaps the same one who’d shouted at us earlier. “All the chapterhouses in a single night? Talon doesn’t have those kinds of numbers.”

“Yes, they do,” I insisted. “I’ve seen them myself. They have an army of dragons, hundreds of them, maybe thousands, enough to attack every St. George base around the world and burn it to the ground.” A disbelieving, horrified silence fell as I let those words sink in. “They’re coming for you,” I went on quietly. “And if you’re not ready for them when they get here, everyone in St. George will be slaughtered.”

“Lieutenant Martin, sir!” another soldier called, and waited for Martin to acknowledge him before he went on. “Sir, how do we know Sebastian isn’t lying? He’s been in contact with the lizards themselves. How do we know Talon didn’t send him here to set us up?”