The sounds of a game of skulldice punctuated Rannok's tent. He looked into the side of his sword. Both eyes had black rings under them and despite the medics' best efforts he had a feeling his nose would never be straight again. He shook his head and put the sword down. 

The chill air enveloped his shoulders and made little puffs of breath in the air as he stepped outside. It always shocked him how late some of the other guardsmen stayed up. Tonight for some reason he couldn't sleep, though, so he might as well join them. He shrugged his cloak on over his shoulders, careful to put his wings through the holes cut in it, and stepped away from the tent in the direction of voices.

A group of guardsmen Rannok didn't know particularly well sat around a table tossing skulldice, wings leaned over it so he couldn't really see what was going on. A man slammed his fist on the table and the rest of the group handed him ingots. Rannok thought for a moment about joining them, but thought better of it. The thought of smalltalk with strangers made his skin crawl like there were ants under it.

There was no one else around. Most of the tents were abandoned, save the few where those who had assignments later that night were resting. Someone placed a hand on Rannok's shoulder and he turned around.

"Hey," Gabriel said, orange wings fluttering in the slight wind. Rannok wondered where he'd come from so suddenly. 

"Do you...need me for something?" Rannok asked. Come to think of it he hadn't seen Gabriel for most of the day, or most of yesterday. Which was nice, because it meant Rannok could sleep without having to listen to someone snoring, but all the same he hadn't been on any scouting missions which left Rannok dubious at best.

"Yeah, actually," Gabriel responded, and he lowered his voice a few levels. "I need to show you something and I need you to swear you won't tell anyone. Aegan has something he's planning and he gave me the go to let you in on it."

Rannok's eyes widened. Why would Aegan want to tell him, of all people? Rannok glanced around them to ensure himself that no one was listening, then nodded. At least he'd have something to do that wasn't skulldice or catch-card or something else that required thinking.

Gabriel put a hand on Rannok's shoulder and steered him forward, past the guardsmen playing skulldice and toward the food tent. At this hour no one would be there, except for Aegan if he was planning strategy and Griffon to go over the day's tasks. He still couldn't figure out why he of all people was being told of whatever it was they planned. 

Gabriel pushed him inside and Rannok pulled away from him. A lantern burned in the corner, giving everything inside a creepy sort of glow. Aegan sat to one side of the tent, fingers interlaced, drumming them idly on the tabletop of the chair in front of them.

"Hello, Rannok," Aegan said. 

"Uh...hi." For some reason he couldn't pinpoint, Rannok's heart pounded against the inside of his chest like a mallet on a drum. He looked around. It was just him, Gabriel, and Aegan. Whatever he wanted to say was something he didn't want anyone else to hear, not even Griffon.

"I've been impressed with you," Aegan said as he folded his slim fingers. "You've put up with a lot. Trained through a broken rib and honestly, I did not expect you to come back with all the--" He gestured toward Rannok's face.

"It's not that bad," Rannok said, flushing. It really only hurt a little bit. He brushed his thumb across the side of his nose and winced a little. Still swollen but nothing he couldn't deal with. Aegan gazed at him, head tilted to the side, as if deciding what exactly he planned to do. Rannok shrank away from the gaze a little and turned his head to the side.

"Look at me when I talk to you."

Rannok turned and locked his eyes with Aegan's icy grey stare. It penetrated him like crisp night air and seemed to glue his feet to the ground. He fought the urge to stare at his feet instead. His brain rattled words around like skulldice, but he couldn't find any combination that worked.

"I'm sending you out next week," Aegan declared. "It's been long enough, and at some point, you need to have dirt kicked in your face. So I'm going to send you out with one of Griffon's hunting parties. It shouldn't be too difficult, you'll hit one of the local supply posts, pick up some things, and come back."

"Thank you," Rannok said, trying to keep his face as impassive as possible despite the cold feeling that pricked at the back of his neck. He couldn't even bring himself to be excited. Aegan drummed his fingers across the surface of the table and seemed pensive for a moment.

"I'm sure you know that's not why you're here," Aegan said.

Rannok nodded. He glanced to Gabriel, whose eyes had gone cold and unresponsive, like stone. He kept them glued to the doorway behind them, not wavering even for a moment. Rannok gulped and looked back at Aegan, then immediately felt the cold chill go down his neck again.

"Gabriel, can you get the map?" Aegan said. 

Gabriel nodded and disappeared into Aegan's quarters, then came back with a loose roll of parchment. He unfurled it across the table. Rannok looked at its edges, yellowed and tattered with time, and to the drawing in the center, which looked new and fresh. Each part of the caravan was outlined, from the marketplace to the guard tents to storage areas, all the way down to the other end, which he hadn't seen except initially in passing, when he'd been brought to the guard. A few places had a large letter X splashed across them in red ink. He glanced at Gabriel, whose face was set in a hard line, then at Aegan.

"What's this for?" Rannok asked as he drew his fingers across one of the places that had been marked. The mark was shiny and sticky under his finger, like wax. 

"There's been talk of an uprising," Aegan said. "Some of the...others aren't happy at the guard's lack of action. A few of their children die and it's suddenly my business...they don't pay me fees, and I have no duty to them." He pointed to another one of the marks. "We need to be prepared to take action. I know it seems odd I've chosen you but Gabriel is one of my best men, and I think you'd work well together." 

Gabriel nodded and folded the parchment up. He brought it back into Aegan's quarters and came back out with a crate. He heaved it onto the table. Rannok raised an eyebrow as Aegan lifted off the top.

"Do they have fireworks where you come from?" Aegan asked.

Rannok's face got hot and a cold sweat broke out across his forehead. He remembered the last time he played with fireworks. How many lives it ruined. The person it killed. Rannok couldn't look anymore. They pried off the top of the box and the smell of black powder assaulted his nose.

"You string a bunch of them together and it makes for a big bang," Gabriel explained as he started pulling ribbons of rockets the size of Rannok's head out of the box. Rannok felt sick. He wanted to turn and run, then fly across the desert until he was far enough away that he wouldn't need to have any part of this. 

"Something wrong?" Aegan asked. Rannok shook his head 'no'. What happened years ago was no one's business but his.

"We're not taking any action now. We are however going to plant these boxes, about twenty of them, five to a string. And when something happens--and I expect it will--we'll have some fire to keep the sellswords off us," Aegan said. "We need you to be responsible for one of the strings."

Rannok looked at Gabriel and a wave of disgust washed over him. He glanced at the map again. None of the labels were anything he recognized, and he had no way to know where Armand and Wren had gone off to. He wracked his brain for some way he could warn them, but no solution came back and cold panic plunged into his stomach.

All the same, he didn't think this was being presented as a choice. So he nodded his head and said, "Yeah."

"Good," Aegan responded, not even the smallest hint of a smile on his face. "Gabriel, pack up. You should get some sleep, Rannok." He stood and took his leave of them. Rannok's resolve fell and he started to panic. He gave Gabriel a questioning, pleading sort of look and Gabriel clapped him on the shoulder again.

"It'll be fine, chances are they won't hit anyone. We just need to scare the sellswords off."

That wasn't the first time Rannok had heard that line. His stomach twisted into knots as he remembered the look on Wren's face as he disappeared around a building and down a blind alley. He'd never forgive himself, and now it was happening again. Not that he didn't deserve it. Now, at least, he knew why Aegan didn't invite Griffon to the meeting. 

Rannok didn't say anything else. He pulled away from Gabriel and trudged back toward his tent. Maybe he'd play a game of skulldice after all. It would be better than all the not sleeping he'd be doing tonight.  He had to find a way to warn them. 

----

Rannok has been faced with a difficult decison. Should he follow Aegan, or run? What do you think about the fact that Gabriel has known this whole time?