"Lina? Lina!!"
Hodge bolted upright in bed, grabbed for his gun, and prepared to fight the monster before him to the death.
But his hand closed on empty air. When he looked up, neither monster nor sister was in sight. This was Castel's church, the Faithguard Army dormitory.
Another nightmare.
Even in the Faithguard Army, firearms were stored together while the soldiers slept. After all, this was not wartime.
The dormitory door creaked open a crack. Kyle glanced at the still-shaken Hodge, then slowly closed it again.
After a while, Hodge threw on a coat and came outside.
He sat beside Kyle's watch post and quietly looked up at the moon.
"Another nightmare?"
Hodge nodded. Seemingly unwilling to discuss it, he asked, "I thought you weren't on night watch duty?"
Kyle was a squad leader and normally did not need to stand watch, though he had to be ready to respond immediately if anything happened.
"Wasn't there a mobilization meeting today? Everyone got leave, so by the usual rule, the captains stand watch."
Kyle poured a cup of hot tea and handed it to Hodge. Then he set the kettle on the stove, opened the lid, and dropped in two sweet fruits.
Neither of them mentioned Lina. Going to Rhine was impossible now; two entire war zones lay between the Empire and Castel.
"What do you think about today's mobilization?" Kyle asked after some thought.
"I don't know." Confusion filled Hodge's eyes. "We were originally people of Rhine, exiled to Castel. And Nora... by the time we came here, she had already left. None of us in this group had even met her."
"So you don't plan on joining the expeditionary force?" Kyle idly poked at the fire. "I can understand that. Fighting in a place you've never been for