“I’ll write a letter to Connan and send it alongside yours.” The new head of house after Sten Armenil’s death. “Lady Orla and Lord Sten were mates. The high lady will not be able to deal with matters of war, but in your letter add a condolence note to her.”
“Of course.” Isolde kissed my cheek before strolling to the desk in our room. “You should shower. I’ll get to writing.”
We gathered around House Balik’s black-stone war table, a great map of Winter’s Realm spread before us. Over key cities loomed carved stone animals representing the great houses of the kingdom. Those with wealth and influence and armies.
A white bear, a lion, a snow leopard, a silver stag, and a burnt orange fox congregated in Avaldenn, where the king was calling armies. Not just great house armies were present either, but those of lesser houses. We left those representations off, not having enough information to correctly determine the entirety of who and what we might be up against.
The ram of House Balik sat alongside an ice spider, a white hawk that came with rebel fighters, and a polished gray stone to represent the dwarves of Dergia. A sea serpent rode in the sea to the east.
The direwolf of House Armenil remained in its home city of Morial, where Isolde’s letter was already winging its way. If the winds were fair and we met with no opposition from the great house of the north, we might count them as allies as soon as next week.
“Lord Lisika’s army is the largest in the realm. Add four more armies to that side and we’re greatly outnumbered on land,” Tadgh Balik said. “However, with the Virtoris Armada dominating the sea, that might not matter so much. If we can come at Avaldenn from two fronts, land and sea, there’s potential to end this quickly.”
Quickly, in war terms, was relative.
I’d fought many battles. Most of those were against orc tribes, but a few had been against mage pirates that had once tried to claim the eastern islands near Grindavik for their own. Never had I been involved in a full-blown war against other winter fae. I’d been too young during the White Bear’s rebellion, and we’d had peace since.
Yet here we stood, planning to shatter that peace. To strike first in a war. I tried to take heart that Lord Balik was right in his assessment. That if we took Avaldenn, the war might end up being a single large battle, and extend only to a single city.
But through all the planning, a large part of me could not help but imagine Tyiel, the god of battle, and his father, Odan. Neither were known to favor brief battles. Above all, they loved the drawn-out fight, the blood-soaked prayers uttered to them as death lurked nearby. The matter if the gods were dead or hiding away was hotly debated in Isila. In my opinion, it might be better if those two gods were gone entirely. At least in that case they could not instigate more bloodshed.
“We can’t discuss the precise contributions of House Virtoris until Vidar and Sayyida arrive,” I pointed out. “And I’d likenot to make a move north until we receive word from House Armenil.”
“That might be too late,” Lord Balik countered. “With the snow beginning to melt, we could be at Avaldenn in a short time. A week and a half at most.”
“I, too, would rather move sooner.” Lord Riis said. “Before Magnus has time to coordinate his forces. We ought to send another raven to the north. Tell Lord Connan to march as soon as he can.”
“I already sent a raven,” Isolde spoke up. “And we can’t offend House Armenil in that way.”
My mate had been quiet during the meeting, and for good reason. She was intelligent and caught on quickly, but Isolde had limited knowledge of fighting, and none of war. Of those at the table, only Lord Balik and Lord Riis had fought in a war before.
“It will cost precious time. Souls too,” Lord Riis said.
Isolde looked to Lord Balik. “Besides, we cannot force potential allies to act. If we do, then are Thyra and I any better than King Magnus? Forcing your children into marriages? Forcing fae into his disgusting harem?”
“We wait,” Thyra echoed. “Besides, we have the army of Dergia arriving soon. What would be the point of having them travel here only to leave before they arrive?”
Thyra had an excellent point. I hadn’t gotten the sense that King Tholin of Dergia took offense easily, but leaving before our first allies arrived would be no small slight.
Thyra lifted the hawk representing her house from the table, turned it over in her fingers. “If we must act in the meantime, my rebels are skilled in irregular means of fighting. We can send some to the capital to cause chaos while armies are moving.”
The rebel forces totaled only about three hundred and fifty fae, just over two hundred of which were not suitable for fighting. At just twenty-three, with precious few resources at herdisposal, Thyra Falk had gathered a small but devoted group that had caused substantial damage in their own ways.
“Very well,” Lord Balik agreed in word, though his tone was skeptical. “When will the forces from Dergia arrive then? If we know that, then we can plan for a smooth and fast exit.”
“Afterthey’ve had time to recover,” Isolde added, her tone cooler than before.
Now that the Virtoris Armada was within our reach, Lord Balik and Lord Riis were pushing hard for the Falks to take on King Magnus right away. To win quickly and minimize damage and in the case of Lord Riis, to save my mother, which I wanted too. The longer a war went on, the more likely their own people and properties would sustain damage. And while I understood their reasoning, and wished to save my mother as well, I understood that she’d known this would happen. Or at least suspected it. So, I stood with Isolde and Thyra.
Together, Prince Thordur and Princess Bavirra stood. It had taken some convincing her brother that Bavirra should join us in the war meetings, but the princess had won. She had gotten a taste for adventure, and I did not think she’d let go of that ever again.
“The tunnels under the mountains aren’t combed often by scouts. Only every turn or two and not all of them are done at that time. We rotate.” With his finger, Thordur traced a path that ran beneath the Ice Teeth Range, a secret series of tunnels that only his people knew. “If all is well in the passages, I assume they’ll be around here.” He gestured to a place on the map. “Only three or four days away.”
“Besides the tunnels being obstructed, what would stop them?” Sian asked. Since the dwarves’ arrival in Myrr, my friend had not stopped showing his curiosity about the Kingdom of Dergia.
“Ice spiders and other creatures that are not fae, but equally as dangerous, live in the tunnels. And then there are the orcs, ogres, even frost giants that have slipped into the lost dwarven kingdoms,” Bavirra answered. “Our soldiers have fought all of them. To the death.”
The dead told no secrets. They couldn’t spread the word that Dergia thrived beneath the Rock, when all in Winter’s Realm thought they were dead and gone.
