General Class Jarkales

East Branch, the next morning

Reslan stood in front of the Main Building's Green Gate for Howard and Priscilla to return from their nighttime raid. He hadn't been so nervous in a long time, and couldn't stop his sweat from contaminating his braided brown beard. 

Monica had woken him up in the middle of the night, and spent over an hour interrogating Reslan about Howard's whereabouts. He was supposed to be back by nightfall, and was supposed to give her a special seventeenth birthday present. Thus, she had been extremely upset when he didn't return, and stormed Reslan's room for answers.

Of course, he told her that he'd be back in the morning, but he was no longer so sure. The Jarkales were going to arrive in 8 hours, and he might be down his two strongest students. His options for winning the battle against the Jarkales were now razor thin. He couldn't protect all his students and the White Mist Warriors at the same time.