Chapter 66

What was it like to lose? Like my heart was torn from my chest, and I was forced to watch while a soldier who'd never tended a crop in his life stomped the damn thing to pieces. Get off my property. I still have my old rifle.

-Interview with a veteran of the Outer Edge Rebellion, June 7th, 2181 CE

TETH WAS THE first off Modesty's Revenge, his sturdy civilian boots thumping metallically down the ramp before he landed on the pavement. He glanced to the east, towards the city of Malleus. It was smaller than Bycrest had been; what buildings Teth saw through the hazy, clouded night were squat, sturdily built, and almost aggressively plain. This was a city designed for work and work alone.