“Do we think this is the new year?” Loch asked, staring up at the sky.

  He couldn’t see the stars through the cloud cover or the falling snow.

  “I think so,” Henry Bolton replied. “Hard to tell right now. I was able to figure out the solstice and I’m pretty sure we just had the New Year but..,” he finished, waving his hands at the cloudy sky.

  The last week had been nothing but clouds, blocking out the stars. Clouds and stars. As an Astromage, Henry’s Abilities dealt with travel by using the stars. It was how he marked the portal stones, connecting two distant points. An amateur astronomer, he’d had a lot of knowledge already that had been supplemented with books from the school and library.

  “The solstice is easier to nail down,” Henry said, rubbing his hands together and blowing on them. “I agree with the others saying we start marking the calendar from the solstice.”

  “At least until we find someone that has actually kept track,” Loch said.

  “There’s that.”

  “So we’re in Year One Post Connection,” Loch said.

  “Works for me.”

  Loch watched as the gate opened, torches lighting up the area around it. A group walked in, shaking snow off their cloaks, more gathered on their shoulders and heads. They stopped and talked with the guards for a minute before trudging their way up the slope toward the school. The paths hadn’t been shoveled yet, someone would come out in a couple hours and start in on it. Only an inch or so had gathered with the current snowfall.

  They kicked up the snow, leaving a long trail behind them as they approached Loch. With the cloaks pulled tight, hunched against the snow, Loch wasn’t sure what team it was. He thought Drew, Josh and Frank Russo’s teams were outside. It had to be Franks. They were the only ones due back around this time.

  “Frank,” Loch called out.

  The guy in the lead looked up, showing the heavily bearded face of Frank. He nodded, turning to talk to the others. Frank headed for Loch as the rest kept going to the school.

  “Lochlan,” Frank said, stopping a couple feet away.

  He nodded to Henry but Loch could tell they didn’t know each other. Loch had tried to get Frank to call him by the short form, but for whatever reason Frank insisted on Lochlan. At least he didn’t add Lord in front of it.

  “Have a good run?” Loch asked.

  “Wasn’t too bad,” Frank shrugged. “Starting to hit the diminishing returns threshold on the Lynxia Dungeon. Hopefully with more runs on the Nidan, we can get some better returns from Lynxia again. Speaking of the Nidan, ran into a patrol of the buggers a couple hundred feet inside the treeline.”

  “Not on their Dungeon side?”

  “Nope, almost straight line from the gate,” Frank said pointing. He leaned to the side a bit, looking past Loch at the Dungeon Office. “I guess I’ll see Alison in the morning.”

  “Go get some sleep,” Loch said, clapping Frank on the shoulder.

  He could feel the piece of armor on the man’s shoulder. Loch tapped the metal with his hands, hearing the solid thunk.

  “Got it this run,” Frank said with a smile.

  “Congrats!”

  “Thanks,” Frank said, looking toward the school and the inviting light visible through the doors.

  “Go on and get warm,” Loch said. Frank nodded and took off. Loch turned to Henry. “You too.”

  Henry nodded, following after Frank. Loch thought about following them but he wasn’t cold yet. But he was curious about the Nidan.

  ***

  “Think that’s one of them?” the guard, Dwight, asked, pointing out at the woods.

  They had watched a darker shadow moving around beneath the trees, just past the edge. Loch leaned forward, trying to find the shape again but he had lost it.

  “Probably,” he replied. “Seemed too tall to be a Mutated Coyote.”

  “Should we go out and look for them?” Dwight asked.

  He didn’t seem too eager. Loch didn’t blame him. It would be dark under the trees, hard to follow tracks and easy to get ambushed.

  “No,” Loch said, leaning back from the wall. “Not unless they come out. In the morning, we can send a team out to look for tracks, make sure they came from the Dungeon.”

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  “I thought the adventurers were clearing that one regularly?” Dwight asked. “Wouldn’t that keep the spawn down and not let ‘em out of the place?”

  “It should,” Loch answered. “There’s a team running the Dungeon every time it’s available. There shouldn’t be Nidan running around loose.” He sighed. There was always something. “Keep an eye out. If they come out of the trees, leave ‘em alone. If they make a run at the wall, then let someone know.”

  “Understood.”

  Loch clapped Dwight on the shoulder. He turned and jumped off the wall, landing on the ground, breaking through the snow covering. He could feel snow falling down into his boots. Grumbling silent to himself, Loch trudged to the path that was filling with snow. He shook snow off his shoulders and brushed it from his legs, as he walked toward the doors.

  Doors that flew open, flooding the yard with bright light blocked by two shadows. Men fell out the doors, startling the guards, falling down on the landing and sliding down the stairs. They landed apart from each other, both struggling to stand. One got up first, launching himself at the other. They fell in a tangle.

  Loch Activated Windstep, appearing in front of the two men. He grabbed the one on top, yanking back and throwing the man. Then he shifted and raised his foot, setting it on the stomach of the man on the ground, who tried to struggle against it.

  “Stop,” Loch ordered, putting some of his Presence into his voice.

  The man on the ground stopped struggling, eyes wide in recognition. Loch turned to stare at the other, who was picking himself up from the ground. The man looked like he wanted to run, not recognizing Loch. He took a couple steps but stopped, feeling the menacing Presence.

  “What the hell is going on?” Loch asked, growling the question out.

  The two men turned to face each other, expecting the other to speak first. When neither did, the look turned to a glare, each taking a step forward.

  “STOP!” Loch yelled, causing both to look at him in fear. “Why are you fighting?”

  “That bastard…” the one on Loch’s right started.

  “He called..” the other said at the same time.

  “Enough,” Loch said, taking a deep breath.

  Others had started to gather, the two guards at the door walking down the steps, taking up positions near the two men, watching Loch for his orders. People stood in the open doorways to the school, watching, murmuring to themselves. Loch looked up to the faces, knowing others were standing around behind him, all watching.

  “Anyone know what happened?” he asked.

  “They just started fighting,” someone said.

  Loch took a deep breath.

  “Dickie and Bert were talking as they were walking out of the cafeteria,” another said. “Looked like Dickie said something Bert didn’t like. Bert threw a punch, Dickie threw one back and…”

  Loch turned to the two men, Dickie and Bert. He’d seen both around the school, doing manual labor, but he didn’t know either.

  “Well?” he prompted.

  The two men looked down at the ground, neither answering.

  Loch rubbed at the bridge of his nose. If he was being honest with himself, he was surprised it had taken this long for a fight to break out. Tensions were running high in the Clan as people were starting to feel trapped by the weather. There had been arguments but no fights.

  Dickie and Bert didn’t look like they were going to answer, which told Loch all he needed to know. Both were probably at fault and were feeling guilty. Whatever argument they had was blown out of proportions.

  At least he hoped it was something like that.

  They didn’t have a jail, which was probably something they’d have to have sooner rather than later. There was no equivalent of a drunk tank to throw the two into until they cooled off. Though right then, neither looked like they wanted to do anything except get away from Loch.

  “Okay,” he said. “If we had a cell, I’d throw you both in it for the night, let you air out your issues there. But since we don’t…,” he paused, making sure each man was looking at him. “We’re going to forget this happened. Understood?”

  Both men nodded. Loch turned to the crowd.

  “No fighting between Clanmembers,” he said, raising his voice so everyone in the lobby could hear. “Pass the word. Starting tonight, if there’s fighting, I will make a jail cell. Understood?”

  There were some nods and murmurs.

  “Good, now back to what you were doing.”

  The crowd dispersed. Both Dickie and Bert started walking, winding up next to each other. They exchanged glares but could feel Loch watching them. The two men took a couple steps apart, Bert waiting until Dickie was inside before he climbed the stairs.

  Loch shook his head, following. He walked into the lobby, which was now empty. There were some people still in the cafeteria, all back to what they were doing. Except one. Loch could see Theodore Kincaid at the far end of the cafeteria, he was watching Dickie as the man walked back to a table and joined a small group. The group teased Dickie, laughing at the man’s expense. He looked embarrassed, muttering apologies. Theodore was smiling, turning away from the group and returning his attention to a book he’d been reading.