Tanhkmet's plate armor and massive heater shield would've been obsolete in combat hundreds of years ago, if not for their conduction of his vis.

But such a vis indeed he wielded, and for it earned renown throughout the empire. And so as he led his company onward atop his sinewed draft bird, he rode then with that massive shield slung down onto his arm, ready at any moment to be brought forth and channel that power.

They were approaching one of the most distant hamlets of Atum-Ra's outskirts. They'd traveled through many similar villages over the last hours, those occasional interruptions to the stretches of savanna and farmland that otherwise surrounded the capital like patchwork. But as they drew nearer, Tanhkmet saw the village ahead seemed both the smallest and poorest of all they'd passed. Less than a dozen waterlogged farmhouses huddled together, as if for warmth, along the main road.

He glanced back over her shoulder. The halo of rookie's vis wavered above her forehead in the breeze, where she rode behind him. Far distant behind them all rose the high city walls of Atum-Ra, still visible even as far as they'd traveled. The young lieutenant's gaze narrowed, as she examined the town ahead herself.

Tanhkmet raised a fist, signalling for the company to halt. The rookie rode up alongside him, all with her focus on the cluster of farmhouses unbroken.

"I'm sensing that the trail leads there, sir."

Tanhkmet eyed her.

She seemed a straightforward mind, to put it kindly. But well-aware of the strengths of her talents and their limitations. He respected that. The confidence with which she'd navigated for them had been a pleasant surprise that morning, at least, assuming she truly was still on the trail of their quarry.

"Its like a ghost town, sir. Deserted," said lieutenant-commander Lycera, as her bird came to a stop along his other flank. "There was already a crowd forming before we arrived in every other village, this morning. Something's definitely not right."

"The recent flooding was bad. Maybe it hit them harder than most," he said.

"But villagers in a place like that don't have anywhere else to go," said Lycera. "Why don't we see anyone finishing those roof repairs, on that one, for example?"

A canvas tarp was tied down over a gash in one of the farmhouses' roofs, but sagged in the middle under the weight of pooled, murky water.

He shook his head.

"Well. Doesn't matter," he said. "Ambush or not, of course we'll go in expecting one. But if the trail ends there as you say, Lieutenant, then we really have just the one course of action. The rest of you will be dismounting and continuing into the village on foot behind me. Right down main street. Your vis at ease, soldier,"

"Aye sir," said Belisarion. The green flames of her crown and wolf faded, then vanished, for the first time since they'd set out.

Their otherwise-disciplined riding birds had been ornery and easy to agitate that morning, so a small detachment was assigned to stay behind at hitching posts driven into the ground beside the road. The rest of the company marched onward in loose formation, but ready and alert. Only Tanhkmet continued still mounted, but kept his bird at a slower stride to lead the column.

He called an order to halt once they'd arrived in the central area between the dwellings, hardly a 'square.' The troop stopped with practiced abruptness, shouldering their rifles. Tanhkmet reigned in his bird, pausing as quiet returned.

"Subjects of the Emperor!" he bellowed.

But his address failed to pierce the eerie stillness, unechoing and without reply, however loud he'd made it.

"It is believed that criminals have taken refuge in your town. To harbor them will be to share their punishment. Come forward, now, and be known as innocent!"

Not a soul stirred. The muddy roads remained empty. The farmhouses themselves still silent but for an occasional decrepit creak in the wind. He caught movement at the edge of his vision, but it was only the rookie adjusting the grip on her rifle once more.

If the town was not deserted, it was perfectly united in defiance of him.

"Criminals!" Tanhkmet boomed. "You endanger the good people of this settlement with your presence. Surrender yourselves now and spare them your violence!"

His reply from the town, still, was nothing at all.

"If you refuse to surrender yourselves willingly, then we are left with no choice!"

He motioned to Unjet and Lycera, and they set about directing their squads into positions around the square, as he dismounted at last himself.

"Looks like we're gonna have to clear the town house-by-house," he said to the loose huddle of his remaining lieutenants. "Krion, Junius, and the rookie are on me. Sidearms out for the indoors."

* * *

Theo watched as a thick band of calm maroon flame formed above Captain Tanhkmet's forehead, dark like wet earth. The plates of his armor took on some of the same reddish-brown hue, tinting the steel's gunmetal gray. His massive shield warmed, then luminesced, soon a singular slab of coffee-colored fire. And a faint but certain hum filled the air, like the remains of note from a great gong, though the tone never diminished as would fading echoes from such an instrument.

A handful of other soldiers assembled around the town square cast casual glances toward the captain, made aware of his presence just the same. But they were quick to retrain their focus back into their rifles' sights, ignoring the sudden sensation of that new presence. They'd seen and felt that vis many times before. Only Theo stared, transfixed.

That close, she felt her stance as solid and firm as though her back was pressed against a retaining wall of deep-dug earthworks. Her boots grew weightier, although she lifted one and realized doing so took no more effort than usual. The wind itself seemed to lessen, as if halted in surprise of his sudden imposition upon the world.

Tanhkmet squared up before the door of the first farmhouse, preparing to kick it in.

"You three ready?" he asked.

Theo blinked, returning to reality, then nodded, gripping her revolver.

She was about to clear a building with the Captain of the Imperial Guard, himself, she realized. She very well might be following him into a firefight.

"Alright. Stay close."