The drive home felt so much longer that it had the day before. Lost in her own thoughts, sarah was an emotional wreck when she made it back to the apartment.“Was wondering when you would get back,” Said a groggy voice from the couch.Sarah jumped, her heart racing with adrenaline. “Shit, woman. You scared me nearly to death!”“You are the one stumbling in here at noon after being gone all day and night.” Hensley said, sitting up with a groan.“What are you even doing home?” Sarah asked, coming to sit next to her.“I wasn’t going to stay in that hospital when all they wanted me to do was rest. I can do that here just fine.”“Did they say anything else?” Sarah asked, concerned.“Yea, don’t get hit by exploding doors and flying sandbags a few days after being thrown head first into a desk,” Hensley retorted. “I am fine. Just a bit bange

David enjoyed relentlessly drilling the new recruits. It was reminiscent of his early years in the imperial and his later days, working to reconstitute the Huntsmen.The mornings each began with a brisk five-mile run. Nearly two hundred men set out and followed the road through the city’s newest section, where the frames of buildings were quickly taking form. The recruits were slow, taking almost an hour to complete their run.On their first day, the new recruits collapsed at the end. David, who could run ten miles in the time it took his recruits to run five, frowned down at them and explained that if they ever hoped to join his team, they’d need to run five miles in under 30 minutes.There were many groans and even a few men quit on the spot. David didn’t care. He needed thirty men. Anyone who couldn’t make the cut wasn’t worth his time.By the third day, a quarter had quit.“By month’s end, those that th

The next day when David came down to breakfast at the Guesting house, Meyers want waiting to greet him with a cheery smile and a thick packet of documents.Taking a seat opposite of David, he slid the packet across the table. “The signed deal with Harlow group. Seems you were right about that girl. She finally got her family to send her.”“Very good. The details we discussed were approved?”Meyers nodded. “I checked each clause myself. So long as they uphold their end and Miss Harlow is our liaison, we will all profit generously. Should they fail, well, it will be as you requested.”“Good. You have discretion of the funds but go ahead and make use of local banks. It’s better to secure loans than to deplete our capital. Also, look into the public transportation situation. If we are going to build out the city, we should plan for that now.”“Did you have anything in mind?”In be

Monday morning, the sun broke over the ocean in a brilliant display of red and orange. As David looked out the window of the Guesting house, he briefly wondered about the islands that he knew sat just over the horizon. Would they be bracing for the storm today?David had his own storm to prepare for. Today, he would take the men to the edge of the Ameranthian forest, north east of the city. Only the outer edges were actually part of the empire, while the majority of the vast five million square kilometers of land were under special treaty that stretched back almost to the founding of the empire.No army had ever been able to breach the Valdarian Plateau that rose above the trees near the center of the dense forest. They would not be crossing the border on this trip, but along the edges, the superstitions and rumors of the locals would be enough to try the nerves of every member of his team.As far as they knew, no fae had made it through to this realm, but if th

That night, no one slept well. From his hammock that he had hung almost three meters up between two trees, David could hear the low painful groans of sore recruits not accustomed to sleeping on the ground.He had been kind in his opinion, providing each man with a sleeping pad from the outdoor outfitter in town. It had been no small expense to outfit sixty five men, plus Hensley and Gallen. He had also gotten each of his Huntsmen new gear at his own expense.While the empire outfitted them well enough, the imperial treasury department was always looking for ways to cut their budget. Now that the biggest war this century had come to a tentative end, they were eager to stem any additional hemorrhaging of funds and start the slow process of refilling the coffers.Being this was his own personal army he was training, all of their simulated weapons, ammo, and supplies were paid for out of David’s personal account.If these people had a lick of sense, the