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But from what sparse reporting Graves’ men had given, Vantalay seemed to be largely secured now. Abolish was on the backfoot after Graves routed Vanderberk’s forces. Apparently, the Weasel himself managed to escape, thanks to the last-second intervention of Gohvis.

As ever, the Monster’s movements were a surprise. Jackson never could figure out when that son of a bitch would actually do something. He’d been dormant for so long that it seemed like the rest of the world had all but forgotten about him.

And now he was making international headlines again, though most of the news outlets apparently didn’t know that he was the reason behind all the volcanic eruptions.

It pained Jackson all the more to be on the sidelines, right now. He had to wonder if that had factored into the Monster’s reasoning.

Probably. Morgunov must have told him something about it. Or perhaps he’d just known. In that obnoxious way of his.

Jackson knew he needed to stop dwelling on it. Whenever he allowed himself to think about Gohvis, he again felt that temptation welling up. That inner voice telling him to let it all go. To just embrace Avar’s power and go set the world to rights.

Mrgh.

Bastard.

Of all the times to reemerge. They were long overdue for another fight.

No. He had to calm himself.

The war front in Sair was the worst off, and that was of course due to his own failure. His attempts to restructure things in the defense of the Wetlands had not gone over terribly well. They just didn’t have enough men left who could lead in the field. Without that, it was all the more difficult to strike that already tough balance of protecting civilian lives and also communication and supply lines.

Honestly, it was a wonder that Sair wasn’t already conquered. Apart from a few minor victories here and there, the remaining Vanguard forces had been in constant retreat. Jackson didn’t understand why Bloodeye hadn’t been pushing harder. It was like he was distracted.

Perhaps with the Sandlords? Reports about them were scant in detail, but it did seem unlikely that they would have been entirely defeated so quickly. They might have been giving him hell as best they could, still.

If only the scouts could make contact with them. Even just being able to confirm their survival would mean so much, right now.