Chapter 21

Chapter

Twenty-One

The train lurched onto its side and my fingers ripped out of the loops I was holding as the weight of Tetra and her creature fell on top of me. Luckily, I was thrown into a pile of rice bags, but others were not so fortunate.

"Alek! Jace!" I cried out their names immediately as I knew they were in the car with me.

Wails of pain rose up throughout the small space.

‘It's that smell,' Liana said as I tried to get my bearings. Tetra sat up. She seemed shaken but okay.

"Can you stand?" I asked her.

"Broken femur!" Alek called out as he did triage on one of the cadets.

"Head wound," came another voice.

"Dislocated shoulder," came another.

This was wrong. The drill instructors wouldn't do this.

‘Aisling. The smell,' Liana called.

I shook myself, standing and helping Tetra and a few others out the roof hatch, which was now acting as door to the outside since the train had completely fallen on its side.

‘What smell, Liana? We have hurt people down here. Tell Kohen.'

‘Cigars, whiskey, burnt ember, and cheap musk cologne. The people who tried to keep us from bonding. And I don't want to distract Kohen from the fight.'

My head snapped to the sky and my jaw unhinged.

The fight?

There were two other flying creatures above us, as well as Liana and Onyx, which made four. I couldn't see from here, but one was definitely a griffin.

A Talanagi.

‘Come get me!' I told her. ‘I can help.'

I peeked my head into the train car and peered right at Alek. "We're under real attack. It's not the simulation. My best guess is the Luskins. Prepare for imminent conflict."

The color leached from his face, but he wasted no time in turning to the other leaders. "Triage the injured! Every able-bodied person outside with me. We are under real attack. This is not a simulation. I repeat, this is a real attack!"

Panic descended on the train cars, screaming cadets scrambling for their weapons, but I couldn't stay. Kohen needed me.

I spun just as Liana landed, and then we were flying.

‘Luskins?' I asked Liana.

As we flew higher, fear washed over me at the sight of a blue dragon locked in battle with Onyx. Luska's version of The Wilds was called The Forbidden, and it was clearly teeming with Talanagi. Luskin soldiers had a higher concentration of them in their ranks, but I'd never seen it for myself since I'd never been in battle.

Kohen threw a fireball at the rider of the blue dragon, and now that I was close enough I could see a blonde with a typical Luskin braid that ran atop the crown of her head. But she wasn't wearing the Luskin army-issued military uniform, so this was all confusing.

Something moved in my peripheral vision and I jerked my body that way, careening Liana with me just as the older male rider atop the brown griffin threw some kind of energy wave at me. It knocked into Liana and I, and she rolled sideways in the air. I gripped the handholds of her harness and tightened my thighs at the same time in an effort to keep from falling off. I was still a little shaken after the train derailment and so my grip wasn't as tight as I had hoped for—my right wrist snapped with the sudden jerking motion. I cried out at red hot pain that splintered along my wrist and shot up to my elbow.

I slid to the side, but managed to stay on.

‘Are you okay? I'm sorry.' Liana's voice was filled with compassion.

I had definitely just broken my wrist, but there was no time for dwelling on that.

‘Fine,' I told her.

The moment Liana righted herself, I pulled up my bolt shooter that had been hooked to Liana's harness with my uninjured hand and fired off one of the serrated arrows. It sank into the rider's shoulder but he barely flinched. He was an older man in his fifties, and before I could reload, he tossed another energy wave at me, this one shaped like a net, glowing blue, just like the one used to trap Liana that night in the barn.

Liana dove out of the way, dodging the net, and popped back up in front of him.

At this confirmation that he was the one involved that night, rage filled me and my skin began to smoke.

This bastard tried to keep me from bonding to Liana! The heat simmered along my nerves, and a scream built in my throat.

‘Get me close to him,' I ordered.

She flew right for him, crashing into his griffin and locking talons with it just as I exploded into a ball of fire. Heat and steam engulfed my face and skin. The orange and yellow wall then dissipated, the rider screamed in agony as he and his griffin flew away, on fire. They left a streak of smoke trailing in their wake.

A female grunted to my right, and then screamed. I snapped my head in that direction just in time to see the blue dragon falling to the ground, Kohen's dagger imbedded in the rider's chest. She hit the ground with a thud, her body contorted and bent at all the wrong angles, dead.

My gaze went to her creature in anticipation. Once a human bonded died, the creature had only minutes to return to the habitat of The Wilds before…

The dragon slowly lowered to the hillside and I looked up at Kohen. He was panting, bleeding from a cut under his left eye, and watching me with a wild expression. I was holding my right wrist to my chest… and it dawned on me: this was the injury he spoke about that I would have when the school was attacked.

We descended to the ground as the blue dragon creature began to gasp for air. It made strangled choking noises as it stumbled forward, lying over the dead body of its human bonded.

The dragon's back heaved slowly and I looked away. I couldn't watch.

‘Tell Kohen to end it,' Liana ordered.

"Liana says to end it," I told him, flicking my gaze back to the creature, who was somehow still alive. The instructor's creatures that had attacked me had died pretty quickly, but maybe the Talanagi were stronger, outlasting their bonded a little longer.

Kohen walked over to me with an emotionless expression, grasped the bolt shooter from my good arm, and shot the dragon in the back of the head. It went limp, fighting to live no more.

I peered into the woods. "Do you think there's more coming?"

Kohen shook his head, frowning as he stared at my wrist. "I think this was an assassination attempt, not a move to take our cargo."

I frowned. Why did people keep trying to kill me? I mean, I was the future empress and they were definitely Luskin, but… it didn't make sense. Why now?

"You're upset?" I asked. Kohen's jaw was clenched shut, nostrils flaring as he breathed deeply.

"Kohen, talk to me. What's wrong?" I stepped forward and reached out to probe the cut under his eye with my good hand. It might need glue or stitches.

His hand snaked out and grasped my fingers, which he pulled to his chest, laying them over his heart. The wild fluttering danced under my fingertips as I locked eyes with my father's sworn enemy.

"I couldn't protect you," he finally growled out.

Now it was my turn for my heart to beat frantically in my chest.

"I'm fine," I said. "I don't need you to protect me."

His eyes grew stormy, his dark thick brows drawing downward. "One day you will. One day you will beg me to protect you."

I yanked my hand back, fear spiking through me.

"Shit." He grabbed the sides of his face. "I freaked you out again. I'm sorry. Knowing these things… it's a curse."

I nodded, suddenly grateful I didn't have his power.

"The others are hurt, we should go help," I told him, changing the subject. One day I would beg him to protect me? I wish I didn't know that.

We both got on our creatures and flew down to the train tracks. I leapt off of Liana and took everything in. It was truly like a warzone. The injured cadets had been dragged out of the train car and laid onto the forest floor. Alek's medical team was triaging them with the medic-kits, but you could tell they only had basic knowledge, nothing to handle this. There were never supposed to be serious injuries.

Kohen stopped at the tracks and growled, looking down. I followed his gaze, seeing the bolts that had been removed and the track that had been slid over to the side, causing the train to just fly off into the woods. We were lucky to be alive.

I strode over to the worst-looking cadet I could find. It was little Meera. She wailed into the fading daylight as she clutched her arm, which hung limply at her side.

With the medic manual in his hands, Alek stared up at me, panicked. "I think it's dislocated but I don't know how to…"

I nodded. I did. It was something Elaine taught me.

Kohen knelt next to Meera and met my gaze, then he peered at Alek and I noticed a slight surge of irritation there before it was gone.

"I can try," Kohen said. "I've seen it done before."

I shook my head. "I can do it." I knew she was special to him, and when you were popping in a dislocated shoulder you had to cause someone a fair amount of pain. He would stop out of compassion before getting the job done.

"Get her a stick to bite down on," I said, and Meera looked at me with wide, terrified eyes.

"I'm going to help you, and most of that pain is going to go away. It hurts because the bone is out of the socket. Once I put it back, you can move it and you'll start to heal."

She chewed on her lip and nodded, tears streaming down her face.

Kohen returned with the stick and put it into her mouth. Meera bit down and he peered up at me.

"Just hold her steady," I told him, but with a widening of my eyes that said Pin her down.

She was lying flat on her back, which was the perfect position for this.

"I know this is an awful scenario, but if anyone wants to learn how to relocate a shoulder, come watch," I yelled to everyone present.

Half a dozen bystanders, including Tetra, suddenly stood behind me, and I gazed down at Meera. "You're going to teach all these cadets how to do this so that they can help someone else someday. Okay?" I asked her.

"Okay," she managed to mumble around the stick.

I grabbed her floppy dislocated right arm with my uninjured hand and laid it flat out beside her as if she were a child making a snow angel.

"Lay the dislocated arm out at a ninety-degree angle away from the body," I told everyone, and then I grabbed her wrist. "And slowly pull." I began to pull on the arm, catching Kohen's gaze. He pinned her good shoulder and hip to the floor.

Meera screamed suddenly as I pulled her wrist firmly, causing tension in the shoulder. I gave it a tiny yank then and heard the click that the bone had returned to the socket. She exhaled in relief, her head lolling to the side as she spit the stick out, panting.

"You good?" I asked her.

She nodded. Then she lifted her arm slightly and wiggled her fingers. "Still sore but manageable. Thank you, Aisling."

I reached out with my good hand and tapped her thigh. "Glad to help."

I stood then, facing Alek. "Who else needs treatment? I can do sutures and?—"

"You have a broken wrist," Kohen said, coming up beside me.

Alek frowned, his gaze going to my injured hand, which I clutched to my chest to protect it.

It hurt like hell, but I would suck it up.

Alek sat down and opened his medic kit. "Let me splint that until we can get you properly seen at base."

I flicked my gaze to Kohen and he walked away. Why did I equally love and hate how protective he was over me? Why was I thinking about kissing him in the middle of a horrible tragedy? Why couldn't I stop thinking about him telling me I would one day be his? That I was his best friend and he knew when our first kiss was. That I would beg for his protection and make love to him under a bed of stars. All of these future things were messing with my head and making me wonder if he was implanting feelings in my mind.

I hissed as Alek delicately placed my wrist in the splint.

He winced. "Sorry."

"It's fine, I wasn't ready," I told him, not wanting to appear weak.

"It looks like a bad break. Even with your rapid healing, you might need a cast to keep it from setting wrong."

Just like Kohen said.

I simply nodded.

This was my proof. My proof that everything Kohen said was probably real. I didn't know what to do with that.

Kohen stood at the center of our little shitshow, peering out at all of us bloodied and bruised with creatures that had limps and other injuries.

"As far as I am concerned, the simulation is still on. We still need to make it to base camp with the cargo to graduate," he called out to everyone.

Silence.

"We were attacked by Luskin insurgents. If we wait here, won't the instructors come look for us?" Summer asked.

"Yes they will." I stood. "There is a protocol in place for this type of thing, but it doesn't include us graduating. They'll make sure we are safe and have a ride back to campus, where they will probably release us back to our parents as failures."

Groans rang throughout the group.

"Being in the Imperial Fleet means you are ready to die for your country!" I shouted. "For your emperor! It doesn't mean if something goes wrong you wait for help and ask for a ride back to mommy."

Alek clasped his case shut and stood beside me. "Aisling is right. This went sideways, but we still need to complete to graduate and get good postings. If you want to stay behind, or if you're too injured to travel, then so be it. You're at the mercy of the drill instructors' compassion. Or lack thereof."

Kohen walked over to the train car where the payload was located and disappeared inside.

Alek and Jace, clearly not liking him being the only one to see what it was, ran after him. The sound of metal scraping against metal filled the forest as I helped everyone make sense of their packs and we made sure we had rations and water—those of us who hadn't pigged out on it already while playing poker.

The boys appeared outside the train carrying the giant steel case. They strained under its weight, knocking into their shins as they walked.

"We've got at least six hours of walking, maybe more. How are we going to carry that for so long?" someone behind me said.

"By taking turns," Kohen grunted.

‘I can take it,' Liana told me.

I snapped my head in her direction. "You're sure? It looks really heavy."

‘I could carry five grown men,' she declared confidently.

"My creature will take it. We need to strap it to her back," I announced then. It would be a huge help.

It took us a full twenty minutes to get the large steel case onto Liana's back.

"What do you think is inside?" someone asked.

"A huge hunk of ember," Roc guessed.

"Weapons," another mentioned.

"Doesn't matter what's inside," Summer snapped. "It's going to get dark and we can only follow the tracks for so long before they curve to impassable territory on foot with so many injured. Then we'll have to branch out into the woods." She consulted her map.

"Let's move out! Look alert for any other attacks," Jace called out and started our group on the journey to the base. Some people were limping, holding hurt arms or busted ribs, but everyone moved as a group. No one was staying behind.

A wet muzzle dug into my palm and I peered down to see Tetra's creature.

I spoke too soon.

Tetra. She sat on the ground chewing her lip as she stared at the seemingly insurmountable task ahead.

I walked over to her as her creature nuzzled her leg.

"You can do this, T," I told her. "I'll carry you on my damn back with a broken wrist if I have to." I shook my splint in her face.

She gave me a sad smile—her fake smile.

"I can't. I should never have let them keep my name in the Lottery. I'm not cut out for this. I'm not as strong as you are, Ash."

I grabbed her cane, propping it up. "You are strong and you're not a quitter," I said, a little more forcefully this time.

She looked up at me and growled, an inhuman growl that was definitely more like her wolf.

"You push me too hard sometimes!" she snapped as she heaved herself up onto her cane.

"Because you're too damn stubborn sometimes and don't realize how strong you are," I snapped back. "So I clearly have to remind you."

She chuckled then, exasperated, shaking her head. "I love you, you idiot."

"Back at ya… idiot," I said without having to really say the words. Sometimes I feared that the L word would sound weird coming out of my mouth. Like I might say I lofe you or something stupid.

With a grunt she started limping the worst I'd ever seen her. Her creature again shoved her muzzle into my free hand, as if trying to tell me something, but I couldn't talk to her.

"What's she trying to tell me?" I asked Tetra.

Tetra glared at her creature like she was a traitor. "Nothing."

I knew better than to pry. I'd gotten all I was going to out of this girl and I was just grateful she was up and walking.

I couldn't help but notice how Kohen was waiting up ahead with Anika. Waiting for me? Looking out for me? Or just being a good team leader?

When we reached them, I saw that Anika had taped up the cut under his eye and a spike of jealousy rushed through me. Did she like touching that perfect face? Had they ever dated? Had they ever kissed?

"All good?" Anika asked Tetra, who simply nodded, almost skipping to avoid putting any pressure on her leg.

Kohen stepped out from beside Anika and blocked Tetra's path.

"Ride your creature. That's an order, Thindrel," he snapped, looking every inch a commanding officer.

Tetra's head reared back at the same time as mine. "Excuse me?" she said.

"Yeah, what the hell? Don't talk to her like that," I warned him.

His gaze cut to mine. "This doesn't concern you, Aisling. Move along." There was something in his gaze, something that screamed for me to trust him.

This was my best friend we were talking about. My ride or die. But in my heart I did trust Kohen, even if I didn't want to.

So I walked away, Anika following me. I left him alone with Tetra.

I took twenty steps and stopped, but Anika grabbed my arm and forced me to keep going. "He's got this," she told me.

I peered sidelong at her. "You've known him long?"

A blush rushed to her cheeks, and I wanted to reach out and punch her for some reason.

"Only my whole life." The way she said it was like she was staking her claim.

She loved him, and it kind of killed me in that moment. I liked Anika—I wanted to hate her but dammit she was cool. Dark hair, mysterious badass vibe going on. I knew I couldn't have Kohen, no matter what his vision showed him, but I didn't want him to have anyone else either.

I quickly peeked behind me just in time to see Tetra climb onto Ariyel's back. I faced forward in shock.

He did it. He got my stubborn-ass best friend to do something that was good for her. It was a miracle.

In no time, they caught up to us and I peered at my best friend. That permanent pain wince was gone from her face. She looked relieved but also slightly embarrassed. Her small form fit perfectly onto her wolf, though her legs dangled awkwardly, so she tucked them up. She'd need a saddle eventually.

"Looking good, T." I gave her a smile.

She glared at Kohen. "An order is an order."

"Yep." He popped the P and glanced at me.

I'll be damned. Kohen Badshah was right about something.

We walked in silence for about an hour. The terrain got rough, wrapping around the mountain to a sharp cliff, and then we had to head east to avoid falling off of it. It was slow going with the injured, and I was glad to see a few others riding on their creatures as well.

Kohen would intermittently talk with Summer and check that we were heading the right way.

When we stopped for a break, Anika reached into her pack and I could see the panic flare in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Kohen asked her.

Her chest heaved. "I must have lost it when the train derailed."

He scanned her face and went pale. "Your med?—"

"Shh," she hissed, widening her eyes, and guilt crossed his features as he peered at me and anyone else in earshot.

"Your medical tape? For that cut?" he said.

She nodded, but it was clearly a cover-up for something else.

Tetra and I shared a look. I wanted so badly to talk to my bestie about this. What were they hiding? Was it those chewy candy things I saw her taking that day in The Wilds? They seemed pretty important. I wondered if they were medicinal, a drug maybe? If you had a drug problem, the Imperial Fleet would throw you out.

Kohen met me gaze, as if pleading me not to say anything.

"What did you lose?" I asked Anika. I wasn't going to cover for some druggie. My life might be in her hands one day, and if she had a problem it needed to get sorted out now.

Her nostrils flared. "Nothing."

‘Kohen says drop it,' Liana told me.

Hah! He was sending me messages through Onyx.

‘Is it drugs? I'm not covering for an addict,' I shot back through Liana.

Kohan hadn't dropped my gaze and the deep stare was having an effect on me. Why was he so gorgeous? And why did he have to tell me that our futures were intertwined? Now it was all I could think about. What he kissed like, how in the hell we would ever end up together, why I would beg him to protect me one day? I wanted to know everything and nothing at the same time.

‘It's drugs, but not the kind you think,' Liana said. ‘It's medicine for a condition she is hiding from the Fleet.'

I frowned then, and he widened his eyes as if begging me to drop it.

Liana added her own two cents: ‘He's telling the truth.'

Yeah. And hiding something from the Fleet.

"Let's move out. We are still under the clock," I announced, even though technically I wasn't one of the leaders. Kohen and Anika appeared relieved that I had dropped the subject, and everyone packed up their stuff.

Over the next hour I watched as Kohen walked extra close to Anika, keeping his hands stiff as if he were ready to catch her at any moment. Stupid, treacherous jealously rushed through me. I hated that I cared so much. He was literally the crowned prince of Imbria, the country that murdered thousands of my people in a terrorist attack. Our hostile takeover of their land made our peoples hate each other. We were enemies at best. I shouldn't be feeling what I felt about him, about any of them. Did it make me a traitor to the fallen Amerseans? The ones who lost their lives that night?

‘That was years ago,' Liana said. ‘Maybe it's time to move on and mend bridges. When you are empress one day, maybe your legacy will be uniting the peoples of Imbria and Amersea. Healing the past.'

Either I was thinking loudly or she could read my mind. I didn't want to know if it was the latter.

‘Maybe. Or maybe this is a long game he's playing.' I watched as Kohen sent another worried glance at Anika. ‘Maybe he doesn't see the future. Or he does but he's lied about the parts where he sees us together. He's playing on my emotions so that he can get the ultimate revenge for my father killing his.'

‘If that's the case, I'll tear out his intestines with my talons and sprinkle them over the skies of Imbria.'

My eyes widened. ‘Whoa, Liana, too dark,' I joked, laughing in my head.

But I could feel the seriousness from her. ‘If anyone threatens your life, I end theirs. That's a promise,' she said, and the statement brought me comfort. Especially since there were so many people trying to kill me.

The trek was long, and my wrist still hurt, which told me it was healing wrong and would need to be reset and casted. Just like Kohen said.

I peered over at him just as Anika dropped to the ground with a thump. One second she was standing and the next she went limp, crumpling into a heap as her body hit the earth. Kohen reached for her instinctively but was unable to catch her.

The second she hit the ground, everyone stopped. Kohen fell to his knees and took her head in his lap just as her body began to convulse. Her eyes rolled into the back of her skull; her back arched and she thrashed around.

This must be related to whatever was in those chewy candies she was always taking, the ones missing from her bag now.

"Shhh." Kohen stroked her forehead and I wanted it to be me. I wanted to be the one he was touching, and I hated myself for it.

"Is she okay?" I knelt beside them both, guilt washing over me for even thinking she was a drug addict.

Dev and Nikhil started to do crowd control, pushing everyone back. "Alright, nothing to see here, give her some room," Dev said.

Little Meera popped up beside me. "She forget her meds?" she asked Kohen with a frown.

Kohen nodded, his face taut with anxiety as he stroked her face softly. "Lost in the train crash."

"How long does it last?" Tetra had slid off of Ariyel and limped over to Anika, sitting on the ground beside her and taking her hand. My best friend stroked her palm and I knew she felt a kinship in this moment. It wasn't the same as having a foot that didn't work properly since birth, but it was something… Neither of them were perfect by society's standards.

Kohen looked up at me. "It's been a long time since she's had an episode. Years. Meera made her the herbal chews, and as long as she takes one daily, they don't happen."

My compassion for Anika grew in that moment, and I pushed my jealousy aside.

"Are any of the herbs in the forest? I could ride Onyx to fetch them," I said, since Liana was currently saddled with our payload.

Meera shook her head. "To the best of my knowledge, the flower that stops the episodes only grows in the Imbrian Mountains."

Tetra whistled. "So what do you do when it runs out?"

The Imbrian Mountains were two days' travel away from the school. They'd have to get leave, and in order to do that they'd have to explain why.

Kohen shot Tetra a warning look. "We'll figure it out. Meera made her enough for a few months."

"But we will need to have a plan so that she doesn't run out once she gets posted," Meera said to Kohen in a low voice.

"I'll figure it out," Kohen said, and Anika's body suddenly went limp.

"She's coming out of it." Kohen sagged in relief.

Anika blinked up at Kohen, licking her lips as if she were thirsty. "Is Mother baking brownies?" She sounded as if she were in a dream.

I glanced at Kohen in alarm. The convulsions must scramble her brain afterwards.

He stroked her forehead tenderly. "You're okay. You had an episode."

She frowned, looking around at all of us. She appeared exhausted and I felt so bad for her.

Meera held her fingers to Anika's wrist. "Pulse is good."

Anika peered up at Kohen, reaching up to cup his face. "It's a pity you don't love me back. I could make you happy."

Kohen blushed, grasping her hand and pulling it back to her chest to set it there.

Then he looked at me, and he must have seen my jealousy, because his face changed at that moment.

He looked happy. Satisfied. Like he'd finally won me over.

"She gets confused for a bit after. She won't remember this," he said to us all.

But I would. I would never forget it. It was the moment I realized that I wanted Kohen Badshah for myself. That even if this were some incredible diabolical plan… I wanted him. Bad.

Tetra patted Anika's hand and then stood and motioned to me. "Let's give her some privacy."

I nodded, standing as well, and walked back over to Ariyel with her.

"That was scary," she told me in a whisper.

"Yeah, and when the instructors find out, she's going to be discharged."

Tetra chewed her lip. "Screw that. That's not fair. If she takes her medicine she's fine."

I shrugged. "Rules are rules."

"How would they find out? Are you going to tell?" Tetra asked me angrily.

"Relax. No. I won't, but everyone else watched." I pointed to the murmuring crowd of candidates.

I saw the moment grim determination crossed over her face. When Tetra thought there was an injustice, she made it her mission to bend the scales in favor of the innocent.

"Alright, LISTEN UP!" Tetra cried loudly, and for a second I saw her future as a drill instructor and with that set of lungs it looked good. Every single person glanced her way.

Oh no, what was she doing?

Her creature stepped up beside her and stood tall and proud.

"What just happened here with Anika… never happened," she growled. "She forgot her meds. It won't happen again."

Tucker opened his mouth to ask a question, and Tetra raised her cane, pointing it at him. "If anyone narcs about this when we get to base…" She let the silence linger and her wolf curled her upper lip, growling.

"Then what?" Summer crossed her arms and glared.

I noticed she was untouched from the train accident, which was proof karma wasn't real.

"Then you have problems with me." I stepped up beside Tetra. "Your future empress."

I might not agree with Tetra going about it like this, threatening our fellow cadets, but she was my girl and I had her back.

"Me too," Kohen called from where he was helping Anika up. She looked ashamed and more coherent now.

Onyx blew a streak of fire across the sky to prove his point, and Summer didn't say another word.

"This. Never. Happened," Tetra said again.

One by one, they nodded, and I looked at my best friend with pride. She'd done something good today for someone who would be looked at as weak by our society's standards, and I knew it was because she felt weak too sometimes, even though she was anything but.

When I met Kohen's eyes, I wasn't prepared for the look he gave me. An expression that said he was hungry and I was a meal.

What I wouldn't give to read that man's mind.

What game are you playing? I wanted to ask him. But I was afraid I was going to have to play to find out.