It was the bugle sound that woke Soli. This was confusing. She had never slept until the bugle call before. She slept exactly as long as needed, always rising well before the assembly call. This needed addressing. Such discipline was hard won, and she wouldn’t consider letting things slip.

  Soli rubbed the sleep from her eyes. A growing murmur rose from downstairs as the boys woke up. The lilac sky grew brighter through the open window as the sun rose behind the distant mountains. This wasn’t right.

  The sun was higher yesterday, Soli recalled.

  Far below her window, the compound was still in darkness, lanterns still lit along the perimeter. “It’s an early call,” she said to herself. A second bugle blare - this only occurred in an emergency.

  Soli was half-dressed in a flash. Despite the extra distance she had to cover, she knew she could be amongst the first to the parade ground. It was a challenge she relished. In secret, she also enjoyed the looks she got from her fellow cadets. No matter how hard they tried, only a handful could beat her to the morning assembly. A consistent beating by a girl was a bitter pill for some.

  She finished lacing her boots, then paused at a sound outside her door. Scowling, she reached for the handle. The door would not move. Something was holding it in place. Laughter echoed on the other side. The sound retreated alongside footsteps rushing downstairs. Soli threw herself against the door, which didn’t budge one bit. Again and again, she tried. It was useless. Time was slipping by. Major Hass will have no interest in why Soli was late to assembly. Late is late is late. Cadets who didn’t make good time were punished. They were never late again. And, of course, Hass would revel in ensuring that her punishment topped all others.

  It was an emergency. She had to ignore her concerns and get to the parade ground. Whatever the emergency, she wanted to help.

  Soli glanced out of the window again, ripping the sheets from the bed. She emptied the spare sheets from her footlocker, took out every piece of clothing, and started tying knots.

  Soli’s room was at the top of a tower in the southwest corner of the Royal Cadet training compound. It rose 50 feet above the barracks and used to be a watchtower. That changed when it became the quarters of the only female cadet. The top brass had relented and let a girl train alongside the boys, yet they baulked at the idea of shared quarters.

  A steady stream of cadets flowed out of the barracks below. They were gathering in orderly rows across the parade ground as Soli threw her sheets out of the window. The makeshift rope fell against the tower wall, hanging halfway to the ground. Soli placed one leg through the window and sat for a second on the sill appraising the situation. Then, fearlessly, she climbed out of her room and abseiled down.

  The cadets watched with awe from below. “Bet she falls,” said one.

  “You hope, more like,” another said with disgust.

  “I don’t wish her harm - not much. It would just show what we all know to be the case: girls aren’t cut out to be cadets.”

  “She’s doing a better job than I would,” from the row behind.

  “That makes two of you that ain’t cut out for this, princess.”

  “Shut your—”.

  A wave of shushes spread along the rows of cadets as Lieutenant Colonel Schoner strode past. He fixed his eyes on the tower and the figure hanging from it.

  “Doubt any of you have found yourselves in such a predicament,” asked Schoner. “Difficult to make a straight comparison.” He stood in thought for a moment. “Might make a good addition to the training regime. Yes, then we would see, wouldn’t we?”

  The cadets all stood to attention, their eyes fixed ahead.

  “At ease. I want you all to watch this.”

  Soli had reached the end of the makeshift rope. Hanging high above the parade ground, the barracks roof was on her right. To her left was the outer wall of the training compound. The roof was nearer, but still quite a distance below. Soli could not see a route between the roof and the ground. The wall was the obvious choice. It would be quite a stretch to reach, but it was only several feet lower than her current position. Plus, it had steps that lead down from the wall-walk to the parade ground. Soli stepped around the tower as far as the rope would allow. Bedsheets grasped in one hand, she ran along the tower towards the wall as fast as possible. At the point closest to the wall, at the furthest extent of the rope, there came jolt. There was a loosening somewhere further up the chain of sheets and clothes, a slip in one knot. Instinctively, Soli released the rope and pushed firmly away from the tower.

  Every cadet in the parade ground held their breath as Soli tumbled through the air. She landed on her shoulder at the edge of the wall-walk and rolled onto the parapet. In a second, she was on her feet, wincing at the pain in her shoulder. She pushed through it.

  Rushing down the stairs to ground level, she saw all the cadets lined up and waiting for her. She cursed whoever had blocked her door and readied herself for the worst.

  Some small amount of hope blossomed within her. Lieutenant Colonel Schoner stood in front of the boys in-place of Major Hass. Her punishment might not be as severe as she feared. It struck her as strange that he wasn’t looking at her, but was facing the barracks. Soli followed his gaze and saw a cadet rushing across the parade ground.

  “Mr Gluck! A regular morning assembly this is not,” said Schoner.

  “Sir! Yes, sorry, sir. Someone tied my shoes together and threw them—”.

  “No time for excuses, boy.” Schoner turned to face the assembled cadets.

  Soli slipped into place on the end of the front row without a sound.

  “Gluck, Ellard! In front of me.”

  The cadets reorganised themselves. Soli and her fellow late-comer slotted into the resulting space in the front row. They stood immediately in front of Lieutenant Colonel Schoner. He did not acknowledge them.

  “This is the state of affairs,” he barked in a voice that carried across the whole compound with little effort. “An incident at the royal palace last night, the details of which you do not need to know. Our king is unharmed. An individual at large, their crimes no concern of yours. It will not be long before this treasonous miscreant is apprehended - the king has ordered the entire royal guard to hunt down and apprehend them.”

  The entire Royal Guard? Soli couldn’t believe it. From the whispered gasps around her, neither could her fellow cadets.

  “Therefore, you—” Schoner paused briefly. He passed his eyes over the gathered recruits as though judging their worth“—are required to take over some of the Guards’ core duties in their absence.”

  Shocked murmuring spread throughout the crowd.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “Silence!”

  Immediate silence.

  “Break up into troops, your Captains will assign duties. Do not…” he considered his words. “Do your best. A cadet’s best cannot be bettered. Dismissed!”

  The cadets rushed to receive their assignments.

  “You two” — he pointed to the cadets immediately in front of him — “stay.” Soli’s heart dropped.

  The parade ground emptied. A chilly morning breeze blew across it. Colonel Schoner positioned his gaze above their heads. He looked as though he drew strength from the stiff wind. The harder it blew, the firmer his stance. He appeared like a noble tree. If he took a step, his roots would rip up the surrounding ground.

  With little urgency, his gaze dropped. “Gluck, you are close, my boy. You are close.”

  “Yes, sir.” Gluck nodded in fear, afraid to question the Colonel.

  “Are you cut out for this? I have my opinion. Don’t answer. It is a question that I want you to ask yourself.”

  Gluck did his best to hold his head high, but his demeanour was that of a wilted flower.

  “The latrines for you. And, if anyone messes with your shoes, or hides your underwear, or blows their nose with your socks, I suggest you find someone to blame and make sure they regret it. Whether they did it or not. You won’t be late again.”

  “Sir. Yes sir. The latrines. Which ones?”

  “All of them.” With a nod of his head, Schoner sent the cadet on his way. “I would give the same advice to someone experiencing trouble with their bedroom door.”

  “I will not attack another cadet,” Soli said.

  “No?”

  “It is not the sort of behaviour expected of a Royal Cadet.”

  “That so? You would say that my advice in this instance is bad?”

  With only the briefest of hesitations, Soli said, “Yes, sir, I would.”

  The colonel’s eyes burned like a furnace. But a smirk crept into the corner of his mouth and tempered his fury.

  “How you choose to handle personal grievances is, of course, entirely up to you. You were, however, late for assembly. An emergency assembly, no less. Unfortunately, there are a great many duties that need to be attended to in the absence of the Royal Guard and few punishments that I believe would be effective in this case. Gluck has the latrines covered and would be of little use anywhere else. For you… there is a job… hmm, it is an important job… Yes, that is the job for you today.”

  “Whatever it is, I will apply myself fully,” said Soli.

  The colonel looked at the make-shift rope flapping against the tower wall. “They will need to be cleaned thoroughly.”

  “As soon as I have carried out my other duties.”

  Schoner held up a hand. He squinted, measuring the distance between the rope and the compound wall. “Very impressive, Ellard. How’s the shoulder?”

  “I’ll live,” said Soli.

  “Of course you will.”

  ***

  The mailroom differed from the rest of the Royal Guard Citadel. Even before entering, Soli noticed a change in the air. Opening the heavy wooden door, a warm, moist, fragrant breeze escaped. The interior of the room was wooden. It lacked the cold, hard stone walls that lined every other part of the citadel. They are still there behind the wooden facade, however.

  This was a utilitarian room. They did not build it this way for decorative purposes. Drawers took up three-quarters of the wall space. Each draw was roughly half a foot wide with a small wooden handle below a metal plate etched with writing. A name - different on each one. Some plates had a cover slid over them. Above each drawer hung a small bell.

  The back wall comprised an array of pigeonholes. They surrounded the doorway and pierced the wall, emerging in the corridor on the other side. There, they were covered by little metal doors.

  Soli stood in the doorway, taking it all in. “You’ll have to close the door. We can’t let it get too cold. It upsets them.” Another cadet stood by an open drawer, which he closed as he spoke. “This is your punishment, then?” he said.

  “Yes. It could have been worse,” said Soli.

  “Not the assignment you would have chosen, though, right?”

  Soli cocked her head and shrugged. “Donal, isn’t it?”

  Donal Klein nodded, “Solitaire?”.

  “How’d you guess?” replied Soli.

  “Yeah, right? It’s just we’ve never…” Donal blushed.

  “Don’t worry about it. Call me Soli. Schoner said you’d show me what to do.”

  “Yeah, sure. Okay. I mean, there’s not much to it.” Donal waved her over to one drawer and opened it. A divider bisected the drawer. On one side a mechanism connected a flap at the far end of the drawer with the bell that hung above it. Each half of the drawer was full of moss - one side red-green, the other a deep purple. “Left side is always returns. So, when the bells ring, that’s where you check.” Donal turned back the red-green moss to show a large beetle. Then, with great care, placed the moss back on top again. “We’ll let this guy sleep for now,” he said.

  The care Donal showed the creature touched Soli. It was an unusual display of vulnerability for a cadet. Even amongst the kinder recruits, behaviour like this was rare. Many considered it a weakness.

  “I’ll show you how to send a message when one comes through,” Donal said, closing the drawer.

  “You’ve picked this up quickly,” noted Soli.

  “Internship. It’s not my first time,” replied Donal.

  “I see. You’re hoping for a support role come graduation?”

  “Is that so bad?” asked Donal with a note of resignation suggesting he had had this conversation many times in the past.

  “Not at all. It’s a surprise. I assumed most of the boys were here to see action,” Soli replied.

  “The ones that make the most noise are, but there are plenty of different roles to be filled, and they are all important. Don’t you think?” asked Donal.

  “Oh, absolutely,” Soli felt the prickling heat of embarrassment spread across her face, “I didn’t mean —”

  Donal interrupted. “What are you here for?”

  “What do you mean?” People asked Soli this frequently. She had let her guard down somewhat and hadn’t expected to hear it.

  “For the action? What are you hoping to do after graduation?” The lack of the usual judgement set her mind at ease, but caught her off guard.

  “I… I just want… It sounds silly. I just want to graduate. Well. I want to do my best,” Soli replied, attempting to sound sure of herself.

  “Doesn’t sound silly to me,” said Donal. “We’ve got very similar ambitions.”

  Soli eyed the wall of drawers with an eyebrow raised.

  Donal smiled. “This isn’t really what I’m hoping to do after graduation. I’m trying to get as much experience as possible. In as many roles as possible. That’s my idea of doing my best.”

  “That, or you’re going to be mediocre at a lot of things,” said Soli.

  “Just as I was thinking you were alright.”

  Someone knocked quickly, then stopped.. They watched the door. It remained closed.

  Donal spoke, “Come in.”

  Cadet Tischkopf’s head poked around the door. “You can come in, Fiz,” said Donal.

  “I don’t know the etiquette. And, I didn’t want to…” Fiz’s eyes flitted to Soli, then to the floor.

  “Weren’t you sent up to the wall?” asked Donal.

  Fiz nodded, “Yeah. It’s alright, though. Kipper and Tran said they’d cover for me.” He rubbed the back of his neck. His eyes were moist. “I can’t do this, Don. I need to send a message home.”

  “Not again,” groaned Donal.

  “Don’t! I’m not cut out for this. Up on the wall, all around the castle, we’re the only thing protecting the lot. The king. Everything. Just us. We’re not up to it. You know. Oh god, it’s the perfect time to strike. Maybe that’s what this is all about. Get the guard out of the way and strike while we’re the only thing…”

  Soli’s stomach tightened. The thought of an attack on the Citadel made her pulse race and her breath shorten. She struggled to rein them in while trying not to betray her

  “Who’s going to strike, Fiz?” said Donal.

  “Whoever. I don’t know. It’s not like it hasn’t happened before.” His gaze again found Soli for a split second before dropping to the floor.

  She knew what he was alluding to, but bore him no ill will. It was an unusual time. Many hadn’t had time to prove themselves unworthy. Now they were doing the work of the Guard. It did leave them vulnerable.

  “Have faith. Our training isn’t complete, but we can do the job,” Soli attempted to console Fiz.

  “Aaah, I mean, I don’t know. Whatever. I’m clearly not up to this. The stress. Don, please just let me send a quick message. No-one will know.”

  “That’s not how it works, Fiz. You can only send and receive Royal Guard messages here,” said Donal.

  Fiz looked crestfallen.

  “If you need to send a message home, you might try the Breachers’ office. Tell them it’s a personal matter, and you’ve been granted compassionate dispensation from the Major. The chaos going on right now, they probably won’t be too concerned if you lost your permission note.” Soli smiled.

  “I’ve already tried. Habet and Kennan are on duty there, so…” Fiz let out a long breath.

  “Just go back to your post, mate. It’s going to be fine. The Guard’ll be back in no time,” said Donal, trying to sound confident.

  “Hmm. How do you know, eh? This is unprecedented. And really bloody weird. Really bloody weird.” Fiz’s voice trailed off. He drifted into the corridor, closing the door behind him.

  “You’ve got to worry about him,” Donal said. “He really isn’t cut out for being a cadet, let alone a guard.”

  “He’s probably not the only one who’s cracking,” said Soli.

  “You think?”

  “Some cadets are barely a year in, and they’re dropped into a guard’s shoes. All the guards are on a manhunt. All the guards. It makes little sense.”

  “True. I suppose I would have cacked it a bit if I was still a green-gill. Fiz, though, he’s an outlier. A weak link.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Soli said, “you sew uncertainty into even the most disciplined of minds, and you invite chaos. If the guard gets their man soon enough, everything should work out fine. But the longer it takes… We have to be vigilant. Things could easily fall apart.”