Chapter 7 QUESTIONS WITHOUT ANSWERS

Chapter 7 QUESTIONS WITHOUT ANSWERS
ETHAN'S POV
The explosion woke me from nightmares.
I bolted upright, heart racing. Outside the tent, soldiers shouted. Fire lit up the night sky. Another explosion shook the ground.
"We're under attack!" someone screamed.
I grabbed my sword and stumbled outside. Chaos everywhere. Tents burning. Soldiers running in all directions. But where was the enemy?
"It's not an attack!" a sergeant yelled. "The ammunition depot exploded! Accident!"
Accident. The word felt wrong in my gut.
I helped fight the fires until dawn. By the time the flames were out, three soldiers were dead and a dozen injured. Our ammunition—enough to supply a week of fighting—was destroyed.
"How did this happen?" Captain Helena demanded, standing in the smoking ruins.
"Looks like someone was careless with the gunpowder, Captain," an officer reported.
"Careless." Helena's voice was cold. "Or sabotage."
She looked directly at me when she said it.
My blood went cold. Was she accusing me? Or warning me?
After the fire, I couldn't go back to sleep. I sat alone, watching the sunrise, thinking about Grandfather's letter. About finding others who knew the truth.
But how? How did I find allies when everyone around me either didn't believe me or actively wanted me dead?
"You're up early." James sat down beside me, his glasses smudged with soot. "Couldn't sleep either?"
"Too much to think about," I said carefully.
James was quiet for a moment. "That explosion last night. It wasn't an accident, was it?"
I looked at him sharply. "What makes you say that?"
"Because I was walking past the ammunition depot an hour before it exploded. I saw someone leaving. Someone who shouldn't have been there." He pushed his glasses up. "Someone wearing a captain's uniform."
My heart started pounding. "Did you see who it was?"
"Too dark. But whoever it was didn't want to be seen." James looked at me with scared eyes. "Ethan, something's wrong with this war. Really wrong. I've been keeping records of everything that doesn't make sense. The timing of attacks. The supply problems. The orders that seem designed to get us killed."
Hope surged in my chest. "You've been investigating too?"
"In my own way." He pulled out a small notebook. "I'm a scholar, remember? I document things. And what I'm documenting is a pattern of someone deliberately sabotaging our own army."
"The Silver Covenant," I whispered.
James's eyes went wide. "You know about them?"
Before I could answer, Sarah appeared. "You two should come see this. Now."
We followed her to the medical tents. Inside, wounded soldiers from last night's explosion were being treated. But that's not what Sarah wanted to show us.
She led us to a corner where a badly burned soldier lay unconscious. "I was helping the medics," Sarah said quietly. "I found this in his pocket."
She held up a small badge. Silver. Shaped like a crowned serpent.
The Silver Covenant symbol.
"This soldier worked in the ammunition depot," Sarah continued. "He was one of the first to die in the explosion. But before he died, he said something strange. He said, 'She promised we'd be safe. She said the fire wouldn't spread.'"
"She?" I asked.
"That's what I heard." Sarah looked at both of us. "I don't understand what's happening, but I know it's bad. And I know we can't trust our own officers."
James showed Sarah his notebook. She read through his observations, her face getting darker with each page.
"This is treason," she whispered. "If anyone finds out we know this—"
"We're dead," James finished. "I know. But I can't keep pretending everything is normal. Can you?"
Sarah looked at me. "You've been asking questions since training camp. You know something. What is it?"
I glanced around to make sure no one was listening. Then I told them everything. About the badge from Thornhill. About overhearing Helena. About Kiera's documents. About Grandfather's letter.
When I finished, they sat in stunned silence.
"So the entire war is manufactured," James said slowly. "The Silver Covenant has been burning villages and blaming orcs to justify military expansion."
"And making money from weapons and supplies," Sarah added. "My father's a blacksmith. He told me weapons prices tripled when the war started. Someone's getting rich off all this death."
"Lady Seraphina," I said. "She's the one pulling the strings."
"Then we need to expose her," James said firmly. "We need evidence that can't be ignored or confiscated."
"Helena already took my evidence," I pointed out.
"Then we get more." Sarah's jaw was set with determination. "We find proof that even the king can't ignore."
"How?" I asked.
"The battlefield from yesterday," James said. "There might be more evidence there. Documents. Equipment. Something the Silver Covenant left behind."
"It's dangerous to go there alone," Sarah warned.
"Then we don't go alone," I said. "We go together. Tonight."
That night, the three of us snuck out of camp after everyone was asleep. The battlefield was only a mile away, but it felt like we were walking into the underworld.
The moon gave just enough light to see by. Bodies still littered the ground both human and orc. No one had come to collect them yet. The smell was horrible.
"Spread out," I whispered. "Look for anything unusual."
We searched carefully, trying not to think about the dead soldiers we were stepping over. I focused on looking for Silver Covenant symbols or equipment that didn't belong.
"Ethan!" James hissed. "Over here!"
I ran to where he stood near a cluster of rocks. On the ground was a dead soldier in armor I didn't recognize. Not regular army uniform. Darker. More expensive.
"Check his pockets," Sarah said.
I knelt and searched the body. Found a sealed letter. Opened it carefully.
The letter was written in code, but the signature at the bottom was clear: S.
Lady Seraphina.
"This is it," I breathed. "This is proof."
That's when we heard voices.
"should be around here somewhere," a man's voice said. "The bodies need to be collected before dawn."
"Riders!" Sarah whispered urgently. "Hide!"
We ducked behind the rocks just as five horsemen rode onto the battlefield. But these weren't regular soldiers. They wore black armor. On their chests gleamed silver serpent symbols.
Silver Covenant.
"Search thoroughly," the lead rider commanded. "Make sure there's no evidence left behind. Lady Seraphina wants this area clean before the army sends collection teams."
My heart hammered. They were looking for exactly what we'd just found.
"What about the orc prisoner?" another rider asked. "Is he still being held at the mountain facility?"
"For now," the leader replied. "Lady Seraphina wants him interrogated further. He knows too much about the peace faction among the orcs. If he talks to the wrong people, it could ruin everything."
An orc prisoner who knew about a peace faction. That was huge. If we could free him, he could testify about the conspiracy.
"Where exactly is this facility?" a third rider asked.
"Three days north. Hidden in the Shadowpeak Mountains. No one knows it exists except Silver Covenant members."
I memorized every word. Every detail. This was the information we needed.
"Fan out and search every body," the leader ordered. "We can't afford mistakes. Not when we're so close to Phase Three."
Phase Three. What was Phase Three? The letter mentioned Phase One was the village burnings. Grandfather's letter suggested there were multiple phases to their plan.
The riders dismounted and began searching the battlefield. They were moving in our direction.
"We need to leave," Sarah breathed in my ear. "Now."
We started crawling backward, staying low behind the rocks. Slow. Careful. Silent.
James went first. Then Sarah. Then me.
I was almost clear when my foot caught on something. A dead soldier's sword. It clattered against a rock.
The noise echoed across the battlefield like a gunshot.
"What was that?" a rider shouted.
"Someone's here! Search the rocks!"
I froze. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't move.
"Run!" Sarah hissed.
We ran.
Behind us, the riders mounted their horses. "After them! They heard too much! They can't escape!"
We sprinted across the dark battlefield, dodging bodies and debris. The riders were faster. They were gaining.
"Split up!" James yelled. "We'll have a better chance!"
"No!" I shouted back. "Stay together!"
An arrow whistled past my head. They were shooting at us.
We reached the tree line and dove into the forest. Branches tore at my face and arms. Behind us, horses crashed through the undergrowth.
"This way!" Sarah pulled us toward a ravine. We slid down the steep slope, barely staying on our feet.
At the bottom was a stream. "Through the water!" I said. "It'll hide our tracks!"
We splashed through the stream, running until our legs gave out. Finally, we collapsed behind a fallen log, gasping for breath.
Above us, we could hear the riders searching. Shouting to each other. Getting closer.
"They found our tracks!" a rider yelled. "They went down into the ravine!"
"Search every inch! Lady Seraphina wants no witnesses!"
I clutched the letter I'd taken from the dead soldier. If they found us, they'd kill us. But if we escaped, this letter could help expose the conspiracy.
The horses were at the top of the ravine now. In seconds, the riders would come down and find us.
We had nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.
We were trapped.
"Come out!" the lead rider shouted. "Come out now and we'll make your deaths quick! Keep hiding and we'll make you suffer first!"
Sarah grabbed my hand. James grabbed my other hand. We looked at each other, knowing this might be our last moment alive.
The riders started down the slope.
Closer.
Closer.
Then a horn blew in the distance. The camp alarm.
"Damn it!" the lead rider cursed. "That's the emergency signal. Something's happening at the camp."
"But the witnesses"
"Will have to wait! Lady Seraphina's orders are clear—nothing is more important than protecting the camp and our true identities. Move out!"
The riders turned and rode back toward camp, leaving us huddled in the ravine, alive but terrified.
We stayed frozen for long minutes, making sure they were really gone.
"What just happened?" James whispered.
"Someone set off the alarm," Sarah realized. "Someone saved us."
"Or something else is wrong at camp," I said, dread filling my stomach.
We climbed out of the ravine and ran back toward camp. In the distance, we could see fires. Hear shouting.
When we arrived, chaos reigned.
"What happened?" I grabbed a passing soldier.
"Attack!" he said. "Real orcs this time! They hit the supply tents and escaped! Took medical supplies and food!"
An orc attack. But something felt wrong about the timing.
Then I saw her. Just for a second, at the edge of the camp. A figure with fire-red hair, watching from the shadows.
Kiera.
She'd set off the alarm. She'd created the distraction that saved our lives.
But why?
And how did she know we needed saving?
Our eyes met across the camp. She nodded once, then disappeared into the darkness.
I stood there clutching Lady Seraphina's letter, realizing that the orc warrior I'd met on the battlefield had just saved my life for the second time.
Which meant she was watching us. Protecting us. Keeping us alive for som
e reason.
The question was: what did she want in return?
And more importantly: could I trust an enemy who kept saving my life?