ShadowBound: The Need For Power

Liam stopped near an embrasure and looked down at the ground outside the wall, where a short patrol was returning along a cleared approach.

The situation would have been entirely different outside the assessment.

If someone attempted to dictate how he lived, where he traveled, or what he was permitted to investigate simply because they happened to possess a title, Liam would have had considerably less patience. Depending on the individual, he might have ignored the instruction outright.

But Veyrhold was not his private life.

𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

This was a collective assessment, and his actions affected more than himself.

He had accepted a position within the command structure. Sheila was commander. Edith was vice commander. Other students held responsibilities beneath them, each dependent on the others following established procedures.

That structure meant very little if everyone treated obedience as optional whenever an order became inconvenient.

Liam understood that perfectly well.

He simply disliked discovering that the principle applied to him too.

’Apparently, cooperation includes cooperating when it becomes annoying.’

An unpleasant technicality.

A faint clatter drew his attention toward the next watch position. One of the archers had dropped a small metal fitting while maintaining his equipment. Another student picked it up and returned it without comment, and the two resumed their work.

Liam watched for another second before moving on.

The current situation was particularly irritating because he had been left with practically nothing to do.

Sheila had not assigned him to the reservoir restoration. She had not placed him among the Forgemastery students, given him responsibility for patrol scheduling, or asked him to supervise structural repairs.

She had simply told him to remain inside Veyrhold until further notice.

That was it.

An instruction without an accompanying task.

Liam almost preferred being ordered to carry rocks.

Almost.

There were things he could help with, of course. His strength would make moving heavy materials easier, and his magic could prove useful for certain reinforcement jobs. He could assist guards, inspect damaged sections, or perform any number of ordinary tasks.

But the important work was already being handled.

Ariana understood the reservoir’s Myst behavior far better than he did. Dylan possessed the Alchemy and Forgemastery knowledge required to work on the supporting components. Maxwell and Quenivarius had made significant progress on the control system, while the Forgemastery students reinforcing the building were operating under their own technical assessments.

Liam could walk into one of those work areas and offer assistance.

He could also become another person the specialists had to explain things to.

That did not strike him as particularly useful.

’I could always stand beside Quenivarius and ask what every lever does.’

He considered the image for half a second.

’No. The poor bastard already has Dylan.’

There were limits to how much suffering one student deserved.

And there was another consideration.

If those students could complete their assignments without Liam intervening, that was an improvement. It meant Veyrhold’s ability to function no longer depended on whether he happened to be available.

He had wanted precisely that.

Now it had happened, and his reward was being temporarily unnecessary.

Liam gave the courtyard below an unimpressed look.

’Success is strangely insulting.’

He resumed walking.

Several more archers occupied the eastern stretch of the wall. They kept their bows close, though none had drawn an arrow. One stood near a lookout gap while another compared notes with the incoming watch supervisor. Their exchange was brief, and the replacement students assumed their positions without any obvious confusion.

The discipline was still developing, but it was developing.

Which returned him to the question of Sheila.

He could challenge her restriction.

Not impulsively. Not with the sort of pointless confrontation Chris seemed genetically predisposed to creating. Liam could assemble a perfectly reasonable argument for allowing him outside the settlement.

His abilities were suited to reconnaissance, independent movement, and rapid responses to unexpected threats. He could examine terrain ordinary scouts would struggle to cross. He could investigate unusual Myst conditions, follow evidence of threat migration, inspect routes toward areas the live map had identified as significant, and perhaps locate the academy observers.

The latter interested him particularly.

The academy had provided warnings, supplies, objectives, and the assurance that observers were present somewhere in Eldervale. Yet their actual positions and methods remained largely unknown to the students.

Liam disliked that imbalance of information.

He had no particular desire to interfere with the observers.

He wanted to understand where they were, what they could monitor, and how much of the realm’s activity escaped their attention.

The unexplained northern region also remained at the back of his mind.

No Purple reading. An unusual absence of other threat pressure. A displaced Apex pack that might or might not be connected.

Too many uncertainties.

He wanted answers, though wanting them was not the same as having a sensible reason to walk north.

’That would be an impressively stupid expedition to begin on a theory.’

He was willing to take risks. He was not particularly interested in taking them for the pleasure of confirming that dangerous places were dangerous.

Nevertheless, the point remained.

He had reasons to leave Veyrhold.

Some of those reasons were strong enough that Sheila might accept them.

He could probably make her reconsider the restriction if he chose the right approach.

Liam slowed near a section of wall overlooking the central structure.

The problem was timing.

They were only on their second day in Eldervale.

Sheila’s authority had grown considerably since their arrival, but the command structure was still young. Much of the order holding Veyrhold together existed because students had agreed to follow the system and had not yet encountered enough inconvenience to seriously test that agreement.

Liam challenging a legitimate restriction merely because he disliked it would create a poor example.

Not necessarily a disastrous one. He was not arrogant enough to believe the entire command structure revolved around his behavior.

But an unnecessary one.

Other students already had reasons to question certain orders. Some disliked their assignments. Others believed their abilities deserved greater recognition. A few were undoubtedly irritated that Sheila’s command decisions limited what they could do independently.

If one of the year’s more capable combatants began treating instructions as negotiable whenever they interfered with his preferences, it would give those students another excuse to do the same.

And then Sheila would spend more time defending the authority of her orders than actually using it.

That would be counterproductive.

’I help establish a chain of command, immediately start arguing with it, and then wonder why everyone else does the same.’

Even Liam could recognize the idiocy in that.

Besides, Sheila had earned her authority.

His support had helped establish the initial arrangement, but the cooperation now visible throughout Veyrhold was the result of her own decisions, Edith’s organization, and the students who had accepted responsibility for their work.

Sheila did not require Liam to stand behind her every time she issued an order.

She needed him not to create unnecessary problems for her.

There was a distinction.

And if the command structure weakened badly enough, there were several unpleasant possibilities.

Chris, for example.

Liam’s eyes narrowed slightly.

’That walking lapse in judgment would probably consider it a personal invitation.’

Chris had demonstrated competence in exterior security, which was worth acknowledging. Unfortunately, that competence had not made him any less obsessed with recognition. An opportunity to question Sheila’s leadership would almost certainly attract him, especially if he believed he could present himself as the stronger alternative.

Liam had little interest in watching Veyrhold’s command structure turn into an extended contest between a competent commander and an ambitious nuisance.

Then there was the academy.

The instructors had deliberately left leadership selection to the students. If the year proved incapable of maintaining its own organization, intervention was possible.

Perhaps the academy would appoint someone.

Perhaps it would restructure the assessment.

Or, in a particularly unpleasant interpretation of events, someone might decide Liam himself was a suitable candidate for greater command responsibility.

He stopped walking.

The possibility deserved a moment of genuine disgust.

’Absolutely not.’

Commanding the entire year would mean meetings, disputes, assignments, reports, personnel problems, resource arguments, and the horrifying responsibility of ensuring that roughly a hundred students did not turn every minor inconvenience into an emergency.

He could already imagine Dylan providing entertainment at entirely inappropriate moments, Chris questioning decisions for the pleasure of hearing himself speak, and Asher responding to disagreements with suggestions involving fire.

A miserable collection of responsibilities.

’I would rather fight another Apex pack.’

He considered that thought.

Then corrected himself.

’No. At least the pack knew when to stop making noise.’

With a quiet exhale, Liam continued along the walkway.

Sheila’s restriction was reasonable.

He had accepted the hierarchy.

Challenging it immediately offered little benefit and several possible complications.

Therefore, he would comply.

For now.

That final qualification remained important.

Liam was not planning to become a permanent fixture of Veyrhold’s walls. His abilities were more valuable beyond them, particularly as the settlement’s specialists became capable of handling internal restoration and ordinary operational problems.

The question was how to make his absence useful rather than inconvenient.