Seph cuffed him again with full fist on the side of his head and the man went down to a hip.

It was then, he kicked him with his sandaled foot right in his face.

Seph stepped back, staring at the cut that had opened up on the man’s cheekbone that was oozing blood and he did this breathing heavily.

No other soldier dared to speak.

G’Seph looked to one of his other lieutenants. “Were any taken alive?”

His lieutenant did not answer his question.

And yet he did.

He advised, “We must flee the city, my liege.”

“How did this happen?” Seph hissed. “They had few guards. Our men outnumbered them ten to one at least. And our squad were all bloody Firenz. They’re beasts!”

“We…we don’t…we don’t know, sir,” his lieutenant stammered.

“Word is spreading through the city,” Seph spat. “Those men didn’t even manage to kill the Dellish waif. She can’t weigh fifty kilos! How can she best a one hundred and fifteen kilo Firenz? How the bloody hell can she best one hundred of them?”

“We…I’m sorry, we don’t know, sir,” the lieutenant repeated.

Seph shook his head in disgust.

“Tonight was meant to see the end of her. The end of True. The end of Ophelia,” he ground out. “Pitting Wodell against Firenze in vengeance for their prince and their Countess of the Arbor. Weakening the Nadirii as it would pass on to the older sister, who wouldn’t know an act of diplomacy if it struck her in the face. Which in turn would mean the younger would need to dispute the new reign. And as that played out and the older weakened her warrior nation, she would turn all against the Nadirii. We cannot wait for that sick queen to meet her end! Sister needs to be pitted against sister for the Nadirii to fall.”

He did not know why he was explaining the plot to them. They all bloody knew it as well as he.

“By Go’Bedi!” he shrieked. “How did we bloody fail?”

“Sir, I must beseech you to make the order for the soldiers of The Rising to flee the city immediately,” another lieutenant begged. “Some of our recruits were captured. We may be exposed.”

“And why is that?” he demanded. “Those caught know to speak nothing of The Rising.”

“We cannot assume they will do as instructed. They will be tortured, if they haven’t been already, and marched to the pits. They could share of our sacred mission in hopes of mercy.”

“They all knew this would be an eventuality if they failed,” Seph returned.

“We did not, none of us, expect them to fail,” his lieutenant replied.

This was true.

For it shouldn’t have failed.