“Precisely why I’m here at this ungodly hour. This isn’t just raiding anymore. It’s beginning to look like an invasion.”
A chill that had nothing to do with the night air crept up my spine. The Talfen were fierce warriors from the northern lands in the shadow of the Cursed Mountains, but they typically limited their raids to isolated settlements near the border. For them to push further south meant something had changed.
“You think they’re testing our defences?”
“I think they’re preparing for something bigger.” His voice dropped lower. “Your father won’t want to hear it. He’s convinced this is just another border skirmish that needs a firm hand.”
I leaned against the stone balustrade, mind racing. “What about our garrisons?”
“Spread too thin and winter is coming. If the Talfen strike in force during the snow months…” He didn’t need to complete the thought. The lands to the north were cold and barren, often buried under snow. It was why we had performed the water trials the other day. In the spring and summer months, the snowmelted in the lower lands and rivers rose and flooded, making it treacherous for our troops.
“Why tell me this?” I asked, though I already suspected the answer.
Santius turned to face me fully. “Because when you return to the academy tomorrow, you’ll be training alongside the future commanders of those legions. The cadets who graduate with you will be leading men into whatever comes next, and it might come faster than you think. We might be calling up every man and woman we can get.”
“The academy isn’t preparing them for that kind of fight,” I said quietly, the realization settling in my gut like a stone. “Most of the combat training focuses on tournament forms, controlled environments. Nothing like facing Talfen berserkers in the dead of winter.”
Santius nodded grimly. “That’s precisely my concern. These cadets can execute perfect drills in the practice yard, but how many have ever seen a man die? How many understand what it means to make decisions that will send soldiers to their deaths?”
I thought of my classmates — sons and daughters of nobility, most of them raised in luxury, their biggest concerns centred around social standing and graduation rankings. Even those with genuine talent approached warfare as an academic exercise, a path to glory rather than the bloody, messy business it truly was.
“What are you suggesting, Legatus?”
He glanced over his shoulder, ensuring we were truly alone. “Your father ordered a review of the academy curriculum six months ago. The recommendations were… substantial. More practical combat training, wilderness survival, guerrilla tactics. Everything that would actually prepare these cadets for what’s coming.”
“And?” I prompted when he paused.
“And those recommendations were quietly shelved. The old guard convinced him that traditional methods were best. That innovation was unnecessary.” Santius’s jaw tightened. “But you have his ear in a way I don’t. As his son, not just his general.”
I laughed, the sound cold and hard.
“Emperor Valorian doesn’t listen to me, Santius. You should know that. And you’re suggesting the academy students might be deployed? Most of us haven’t even completed basic field training.”
“I’m suggesting,” Santius said carefully, “that circumstances may soon demand extraordinary measures.” He glanced around, ensuring no guards were within earshot. “Your father believes in overwhelming force. It’s served him well for decades. But the Talfen... they’re different now.”
“Different how?”
Santius’s jaw tightened. “They have dragons, Jalend.”
The words hit me like a physical blow. “That’s impossible. The northern breeds are untameable — everyone knows that.”
“Everyone is wrong.” His voice was flat, certain. “Three weeks ago, we lost a scouting party near the Blackthorn Pass. One survivor managed to make it back. Before he died of his wounds, he described dragons with eyes like gold fire. Dragons that moved in formation, following commands,without riders.”
“That’s impossible,” I murmured. “How could they control them without riders? And if the Talfen have somehow managed to bond with the northern breeds…”
“Then everything changes,” Santius finished grimly. “Our aerial superiority has been our greatest military advantage for generations.”
“Does my father believe this report? Has he ordered more riders into active service?”
“Your father,” Santius said with careful precision, “believes what suits his existing strategies. He dismissed it as thehallucinations of a dying man. Says the dragon corps should be reserved for a‘true emergency.’”
A cold knot formed in my stomach. My father was playing some deeper game, as always. The dragon riders were our most effective weapon against massed forces — why hold them back unless...
“There’s something else,” I murmured. “Something beyond the Talfen. Something we don’t know.”
Santius nodded grimly. “Your father sees patterns where others see chaos. Always has. But he’s not sharing his suspicions, even with me.”
The moons cast long shadows across the terrace as we stood in silence. I thought of the academy, of Livia and the other cadets training for a war they didn’t know was coming.
