I enter Fire castle quickly. I'm angry enough to punch a hole in the wall, if the walls weren't made of stone. I pass by everybody and go straight to straight to Mark, who's sitting down with somebody I don't recognize.
"I need Keleigh, Zander, Grace, and Jared."
Mark stares at me.
"Hello to you to. Why?"
"Jason kidnapped Cade."
He looks at my face for a few seconds, then shakes his head.
"Sorry, but I can't. They're some of our best soldiers."
"That's exactly why I need them" I say "If I'm going to get Cade back, I'll need to basically invade wherever Jason's hiding, and for that I'll need some of the best."
Mark shook his head again.
"Zander's visiting possible allies, Grace is helping out at Lurgeress Fortress, Jared is in a battle with Ares' army, and Keleigh is visiting contacts trying to get information. They all are busy now, but I can get all of them for certain in a week, except Jared."
"Well, what am I supposed to do!?" I ask him. Mark looks thoughtful, and says
"I can get Chris and Sandra to help." Those two are Mark's friends, and are supposed to be really good. But two people won't be enough. I'm just about to give up with reasoning and start cursing him out when the guy Mark was talking to says
"I could lend you some soldiers."
I look at him.
"Jack, this is the Martial commander of the students of Wind." Mark says.
"Harry Smith. Pleased to meet you." He says.
"He's here because I asked him to stop remaining neutral and help us. If he does, they can have their allies to help out as well."
"I've decided" Harry says.
"If this invasion succeeds, I'll join you." His eyes narrow.
"But if I have to lend you soldiers to do the invasion, I'll have to ask a favor of you, Jack."
I think for a second, and say
"How many soldiers?"
"How many do you need?"
"If they're really, really good fighters, twenty or so."
"Then I'll lend you sixty of my best."
I stare at him.
"Chris and Sandra will come as well." Mark says.
"When are you leaving?" Asks Harry.
"Tomorrow" I answer, and after thanking him, I leave the room.
I walk down the hall, wondering what kind of favor he needs me to do if he's prepared to give me sixty people as payment. It would have to be pretty bad. I head to the map rooms, and check out the Shadow Chart. It's basically a bunch of maps that show shadow activity everywhere. It shows activity with splotches of color, and those splotches can actually move across the map as the forces move. Usually, if it's just the shadow army, it's a light gray splotch where they're at, but Jason always looks like a pitch black splotch. Today, he's in Herolade, at an abandoned mansion. I check the blueprints for it from the library, and begin making a plan of attack. The whole time I'm doing it, I can mentally see the image of Jason and Cade disappearing. Then I refocus and get back to planning. Tomorrow, we attack.