“He and his men will be in or near the mine when it collapses,” Nikella said, her eyes hard and sharp like the spear in her hands.
“You’re going to bury an army?”
“Unless you think we can get them to desert Dracles,” Aiden spoke up.
I frowned. We’d never discussed that possibility.
Henry shook his head. “Not those men, no. Dracles hand-picked every one of them. The strongest, the cruellest, the most bloodthirsty. Animals more than men, the lot of them. I was glad to quit Calimber when they arrived.”
Like Delysia had said. Suddenly, I wanted to know everything about how they’d met and fallen in love. Holy Four, if anything happened to Henry, I would hate to tell my sister of my part in it.
“Tell me, why Calimber? Why not go to Aquinon yourselves?” Henry asked.
I grimaced. “Things are more complicated than we realized.” I told him of Renwell’s attack at Arduen’s Mountain. Of the sunstone armor and weapons. Of the forge and the prisoners in the mine.
He listened with an expression that grew more and more grim. Shayn shook his head and muttered curses. Lionel simply stared into the fire.
“I see,” Henry said when I finished. He stroked his mustache again. “I see. So you want to destroy the mine and as much of Dracles’s army as you can manage. Then you want me to march my men to Aquinon to liberate the city.”
“Yes,” I whispered. “If I don’t make it out of the mine alive, I need someone I can trust to defeat Renwell and save Delysia and Everett.”
“And if you survive?”
“If we survive, we’ll meet you in Aquinon,” Aiden said.
My heart leaped. I glanced toward him to find him already watching me. The flames flickered in his green eyes.
“With what army?” Henry said, gesturing at our group. He didn’t say it cruelly. Just stated the obvious.
But Maz still bristled. “With every warrior we have left, which will be more than enough.”
“We’ll come by sea,” Aiden added. “We should have several ships by then.”
My eyebrows lifted. He must’ve been thinking about what I’d said in the tavern these past few weeks. Thinking and planning. Even Nikella looked surprised... but also pleased.
Henry leaned back, a gleam of excitement in his eyes. “And what of the cliff gate? I was born in Aquinon. Lived there most of my life. Once that gate is down, it’s impossible to get through it.”
“We had a few guards we bribed before,” Maz said, cutting a look at Aiden, who shook his head.
“Those men are probably dead or on the run after what happened,” he said.
Henry nodded. “I know a few of the men posted there, and one of them sent me a letter after Renwell took the throne. He told me it was likely the last letter I’d get from the inside, as Renwell was barring all communication to the outside. We’ll have to send someone in.”
I opened my mouth, but Nikella beat me to it. “I’ll go inside and disable the gate.” She shook her small bag of blackrust powder. “I can partially meld the chains inside the drum so that the winch can’t turn and the gate will be stuck open.”
Holy Four, she’d been strategizing the battle for Aquinon, too.
But not together, from the look of Aiden’s hardened jaw. “No. You won’t be able to enter the city without someone raising the alarm of who you are,” he said. “Don’t forget who’s hunting you.”
Everyone went deadly quiet.
“I have been hunted all my life. That has never stopped me before,” Nikella said in a soft, cold voice that reminded me of Renwell. I shivered.
Aiden’s jaw flexed, but he said nothing.
Henry cleared his throat. “May I ask who?—”
“Korvin,” Nikella said.
