“Aye, Your Highness, the same.”

Octavian nodded. The two of them were walking the perimeter of the camp’s defenses as the sunset closed, after another day of hard marching, inspecting the work of the Legions and the warriors. “Maximus has wanted to have an excuse to take a swing at Tarsh ever since we met him in Molvar. And I can’t imagine that Varg would be sorry about being given a reason not to place anyone under Tarsh’s command.” Octavian nodded. “What of the survivors from Riva?”

The Legions had found a handful of folk clever or fortunate enough to have successfully hidden from the vord during the days of occupation. None of them were in what would be considered good condition though few bore any injuries. “The children are showing signs of beginning to recover,” Fidelias said. “The others… some of them have family who might be alive. If we get them to someplace warm and quiet and safe, they have a chance.”

“Someplace warm, quiet, and safe,” said the Princeps, his eyes hardening. “That can be a rare thing even in times of peace.”

“True enough.”

The Princeps stopped in his tracks. They were a short distance from the nearest sentries. “Your best guess. Could Crassus command this force in… my absence?”

“In your absence, as your lieutenant, yes,” Fidelias replied immediately. “In the event of your loss, Captain? Not for long.”

Octavian eyed him sharply. “Why?”

“Because the Canim respect Varg, and Varg respects you. The Free Aleran Legion respects you—but if you weren’t here, they would follow Varg’s lead.”

The Princeps grunted, frowning. Then he said, “Are you telling me that I should name a Canim the second-in-command of our forces?”

Fidelias opened his mouth and closed it again. He blinked, thinking it over. “I believe… that Varg would have a better chance of holding the force together than Crassus, or anyone else in the First Aleran’s command structure.”

“Except, perhaps, Valiar Marcus,” Octavian mused.

Fidelias snorted. “Yes, well, that’s not an option now, is it?”

Octavian regarded him steadily and said nothing.

Fidelias tilted his head as it slowly dawned on him what Octavian meant. “Oh, Your Highness. You couldn’t possibly do that.”

“Why not?” Octavian asked. “No one but my personal guard and Demos’s crew know the truth about you. They can keep a secret. So, Marcus runs the force until it can unite with the Legions, passes along Crassus’s orders, and is watched by the Maestro—who is, I believe, still uncertain as to why you aren’t hanging on a cross being eaten by vord.”

“I’m a bit unclear on that point myself, at times.”

Octavian’s visage hardened briefly. “I will do as I see fit with your life. It is mine to spend. Remember that.”

Fidelias frowned and inclined his head slightly. “As you wish, my lord.”

“That’s right,” Octavian said, some measure of bitter humor touching the tone.

Fidelias studied the young man for a moment and realized that… the Princeps was torn over some decision. Normally he was so confident, so driven; Fidelias had never seen him like this. There was uncertainty hovering behind his words, hesitance: Octavian himself wasn’t sure what his next steps would be.

“Are you planning on leaving the force, sir?” Fidelias asked carefully.

“At some point, it’s inevitable,” Octavian replied calmly. “If nothing else, I will be obliged to make personal contact with the Legions in Calderon—and hope to the great furies whoever is in charge over there has had sense enough to listen to my uncle.”

Fidelias grunted. “But… that isn’t what you think will happen.”

Octavian grimaced, and said, “Someone has to command the men, regardless of what happens to me. We have to take down the vord Queen—and her cadre of captured or treacherous Citizens. I will, by necessity, be in the center of that conflict. And… the odds seem to be long against me.”

Fidelias debated on how to respond to the moment of vulnerability the Princeps was showing. He finally just began chuckling.

Octavian frowned at him and lifted an imperious eyebrow.

“Long odds,” he said. “Bloody crows, sir. Long odds. That’s bloody funny.”

“I don’t see what’s so amusing about it.”

“Naturally, you don’t,” Fidelias said, still chuckling. “The furyless boy from the country who stopped an invasion.”

“I didn’t really stop it,” Tavi said. “Doroga stopped it. I just…”

“Completely demolished an operation backed by the most dangerous High Lord and Lady in the Realm,” Fidelias said. “I was there. Remember?” The last words were not bereft of irony.

Octavian gave a small inclination of his head in acknowledgment of the touch.

“The boy who personally saved the First Lord’s life in his second term at the Academy. Who took command of a Legion and fought the Canim to a standoff—and who then stole Varg from the most tightly guarded prison of the Realm and brokered the first truce in history with the Canim to get them out of the Realm. The young upstart Princeps who pitted himself against a continent full of vord and hostile Canim and won.”

“I got my people and Varg’s out alive,” Octavian corrected sharply. “I haven’t won anything. Not yet.”

Fidelias grunted. “Sir… honestly. Suppose you defeat the vord here. Suppose you unite our people again, take Alera back. Will that be a victory?”

Octavian raked his fingers through his hair. “Of course not. It’ll be a good start. But there will be severe repercussions for the balance of power in our society that must be addressed. The Canim will, probably, be settling here, and we’ll have to reach some kind of mutual understanding with them, and the Free Alerans are never going to back the same set of laws that allowed them to be enslaved. Not to mention the fact that—”

Fidelias cleared his throat gently. “Young man, I submit to you that your standards of victory are… set rather high. If you continue that way, no matter what you do, it will never be enough.”

“That is exactly correct,” Octavian replied. “Are the men and women the vord have already killed only partially dead? Are they only technically dead? Only legally dead? Can a compromise be made wherein they are given back some portion of their lives?” He shook his head. “No. No compromise. My duty to them, and to those still alive, demands nothing less than everything I can give them. Yes, old soldier, my standards are high. So are the stakes. They’re a matched set.”

Fidelias stared at him, then shook his head slowly. Gaius Sextus had held an air of absolute authority, of personal power that arrested one’s sense of reason, at times, to extract support and obedience. Gaius Septimus had been a vibrant figure, driven and intelligent, always looking to the future. He could have inspired men to follow him down any path of reason, no matter how winding.

But Octavian… men would follow Octavian into a leviathan’s gullet if he asked it of them. And crows take him if Fidelias himself wouldn’t be one of them. The headstrong lunatic would probably discover some way to lead them all out the other side draped in the rings and crowns of a devoured treasure ship and somehow emerge clean.

“I couldn’t lead the Legions and the Canim,” Fidelias said quietly. “Not alone. But… if you made your will known to Varg, then Valiar Marcus could serve as Crassus’s advisor, his huntmaster. Varg would give him the chance to stand on his own merits in that case. And I would direct him as best I could.”

“You know the Canim,” Octavian said. “Better than anyone else I have.” His eyes glinted. “You’ve spent time with Sha, I think.”

“I’ve met the Cane,” Fidelias said calmly. “He seems most professional.”

“And have you ever met Khral?”

“I do not believe my duties as First Spear ever brought me into contact with him, my lord.”

“Oh,” Octavian said, smiling suddenly. “Very smooth.”