I nodded once. “Sowheredo we start?”
The words came out steady, more statement than question. I set my hands on the map, aware of every gaze fixed on me, and let the silence stretch just long enough for the weight of what came next to settle.
“All right,” I said, pulling together the plans my mates and I had brainstormed while traveling throughout the day. “We organize this in three parts:evacuation, lure, and defeat.” I tapped the inner rings of Alfemir on the map. “Essentially—after it's cleared out, we draw the triads into the city and finish them there.”
“Evacuation first,” Noah said. “Every non-combatant civilian—anyone who can’t fight—will be moving to the mountain caverns. Queen Nora has offered her city as refuge to those who can’t fight.”
I gave Niz’s mother a quick, thankful smile. I hadn’t realized when she was considering solutions that she would open the doors oftheirhome, especially to angels. I could be nothing but thankful.
“We start that tonight,” Amelia added, ledger in hand. “Moving after dark will give them better cover and reduce the chance of being detected by the upper triads if they’re watching us. I’ll handle the route coordination—families were warnedto prepare after the Dominion incident, so most are ready to evacuate.”
We'd even taken precautions, moving what few keepsakes I had from my family’s home to our camp here.
Ronan cut in. “Evacuation lanes will need escorts. Beast Tamers and the Angelic Army Cavalry can aid in that—pegasi and dragons can guide civilians through the mountain passes.”
“It may be safer to follow Alfemir’s walls where children or elderly can land for breaks,” the Beast Tamer representative pointed out. “It provides stable points for those who can’t fly far.”
Ronan nodded in agreement as the Text Keeper recorded the note, pen moving swiftly across the notepad. The plan for evacuation was set—now it was time to turn to the next phase. Relief flickered through me, knowing at leastoneelement was finally in motion.
“Which means we have to turn our attention to how we handle the triads now,” I breathed out as my shoulders tightened. “Even with civilians moving discreetly at night, we can still assume they’ll still attack the city first, so we will ensure it’s where they will incur the most damage. Alfemirwilldraw their ire, so our preparations must be quiet and begin tonight.”
“Our preparations todestroythem,” Bastian said, a crooked smile flashing. His eyes were bright with possibility. “So, how do we make that happen?”
“First and foremost: we control the air with anything that flies.” Gabe answered. “Niz and I will plan to ensure wyverns, Angelic Cavalry, and Tamers and their beasts don’t collide in battle.”
Niz spoke up, “We can also ensure we deny any enemy air support.”
Astor splayed her hands on the table and spoke candidly. “You’ll need to fight the Dominions on that level as well. AngelicArmy Archers will hold the high ground on the castle and along Alfemir’s walls to aid in that.”
Steele jabbed a finger at the map. “For the ground plans we need to be exact—specific funnels, choke points, and trap sites. No vagueness. We channel them into kill zones.”
I nodded in agreement, picturing the absolute chaos that would rain down on Alfemir. The evacuations would save lives, but so much else would still be lost.
Mithrie pressed her lips together in thought. “Those traps can be elemental in nature, but I’m worried the power needed to place and trigger so many will stretch us thin and render us useless in the ground battle.”
“The Caster-based ones can fill the gaps,” the Caster representative cut in. “Elemental triggers are fast—fire and air for strikes at choke points; earth and water to hold or collapse buildings and walls. But aCaster-charged trigger paired with potions can be devastating.”
“We can create bombs easily,” the Potion Master representative said, eyes bright. “Concussive, incendiary, corrosive—small enough to hide, big enough to take downmany.”
The cunning and cruelty of it settled over the table. For a beat the room was quiet, everyone picturing the city and our enemies breaking exactly as we planned. A cold wash moved through me—horror at what we were preparing, and a steady, ugly resolve that this bloodshed had to be carried out.
Amelia spoke up then, as if reading my thoughts, already seeing the bloodshed ahead. “Medical teams need to be staged at set points between here and the city. Resupply windows planned and secured. We can’t predict everything, but we can make sure our people have what they need to survive.”
I looked around the table, meeting every gaze in turn. “Is everyone clear?”
When the room answered with nods, I gave a single one of my own. “Then we start now. Break into groups. Every detail gets locked down before we break apart for the evening.”
“Before we move on, there’s one more thing,” Astor said, raising a hand to grab attention. She nodded toward the Divine Weaponsmith representative, then looked to Niz’s mother. “As a show of our solidarity, our forge has been repurposing old weapons—those once forged with the rare materials meant to harm your kind, have been smelted into shields instead.”
Niz’s mother blinked, surprise flickering across her face that echoed my own. “Shields?”
Astor inclined her head. “We don’t know if the upper triads still have access to weapons made of the same material. But if they do, we want you to be protected.”
The Divine Weaponsmith stepped forward, setting a large piece of metal on the table. “Light enough for battle,” he said, his voice rough and echoing through the tent. “Sturdy enough to take heavy hits.”
Surprised silence rippled through the tent.
Niz stepped closer to join his parents, accepting the shield with careful hands. He angled it so the dim light rippled across the surface. “We hadn’t considered that the upper triads might possess weapons like these,” he admitted, glancing between the Smith and Astor. “They may not even realize we’re here yet… but, thank you for thinking ahead.”
