“Everything can fly in the rain,” she said. “But they don’t like to. It’s much harder; the water weighs them down and they have to fight against it. I’ll probably call up wasps. Flying in rain infuriates them.”
It sounded perfect.
Io reached into her bag and pulled out a fortification potion and passed it to me. “Why do you want rain?”
“It will mean fewer people will be out of their tents and those that are will be miserable. They’ll be more concerned with their own discomfort than challenging me.”
Ahyana took a potion from Io as well. “Are you going now? Under the cover of night?”
“No. The only people moving around the camp right now are guards. I would stand out. The women will be up early in the morning, getting ready for the day. That’s when I’ll slip in.”
“How will you know where to go?” Zalira asked as she put her fortification potion in her pouch.
“My old battle master told me that generals were all different in where they would be in the camp—some insisted being in the middle so that they were the most protected. But others wanted to be up front, where the action would be if they were attacked. I think Artemisia will be in the front. But I need Ahyana to verify that for me.”
She nodded, drank her potion, and called up her aspect. “Dea Karpophoroi.” I heard the shriek of a bat in the distance and waited while she used it to scout.
When she turned the magic off, she said, “There is a tent, much larger than the others, near the front. It has a red banner with a picture of a terawolf on it.”
The other symbol of Arion. “That’s where they’ll be.”
We probably should have slept, but none of us could manage it. Instead we ran over my plan a thousand times, thinking of all the ways it might go wrong and what I could do to circumvent them.
The backup plan mostly consisted of “fight my way out.”
When dawn began to approach, I changed into the outfit that I had bought from the villager, covering my head with a scarf. Io took the still-sleeping Luna, and I used the basket and sheets as a prop, hoping that people’s eyes would pass over me as soon as they saw me.
We moved into position closer to the camp. My entry point would also be my exit point so that my sisters could easily see me.
“Ready?” I asked.
Zalira nodded and called on her aspect. The rain started falling immediately, dramatically. I was already soaked.
“I’ll be back,” I promised them.
I stayed among the trees to disguise my approach. I sucked in a deep breath before I headed out to the open area, where the guards would be able to see me. I hurried toward the camp, as one would if they had been caught in a downpour.
Demaratus had told me once that the secret to slipping behind enemy lines was that if I behaved as if I belonged, people would believe that I did.
I had reached the first tent when I heard a voice call out, “You there! Where are you coming from?”
My heart was thundering in my chest. “I was relieving myself,” I told the guard who came over to me. He poked at my basket with his sword.
“Back about your duties,” he said, dismissing me.
It had worked! Excited, I walked through the tents, heading toward my goal. The red dirt beneath my feet had turned to mud, and it coated my sandals. As I had suspected, these terrible conditions ensured that there was hardly anyone outside. They were all in their tents keeping dry.
Except ... three people were headed toward me.
And I realized the one in the middle was Artemisia, flanked by two officers.
My vengeance told me that this was my chance. That I could easily kill all three, take the eye, and go.
But I decided not to.
I chose Xander’s safety instead.
Stupid girl, she’s going to recognize you! Hide!
