He gave me a look of approval, as if this pleased him, but then the corners of his mouth turned down. “That doesn’t seem right for someone who is supposed to be a prophesied savior.”
“What do you mean?”
“You have an aspect that tires you and drains you. From a military standpoint, that is a bad thing. If I were the goddess, I would give you an ability that was sustainable.”
His words made me think. I already had two powers that I could invoke that didn’t tire me out.
What if I had another?
Rokh came into the tower, out of breath. He had been grounded because of Dolion’s threat and was only delivering messages inside the city. “We need Suri. Something is happening in the cavern.”
Io asked, “What’s going on?”
“Some of the city’s engineers think that Erisa releasing the water did some damage to the main cavern. There are cracks forming and some rocks falling.”
If that cavern collapsed, it would kill every innocent person in Troas. It had to take priority.
Xander echoed what I was thinking. “The structural integrity of the cavern is of the utmost importance.”
“I’m going with Suri,” Io said.
“Are you sure?” I asked her. We could use her here.
“I can power Suri and help her fix it. And going down there would allow me to join the healers. I think I would prefer to spend this fight saving people rather than harming them.”
She was herself again. That made me happy. I hugged her tightly. “Be safe.”
“You too. I will see you when this is all done.”
“Yes, you will,” I promised her.
Suri and Io left with Rokh. Ahyana turned her aspect on and stayed quiet for a few minutes. She turned it off and announced, “They’re building a tunnel in the trench just outside the northern gate. I took care of it.”
“How?” I asked.
“Angry bees.”
Time somehow seemed to pass both slowly and quickly. Demaratus had remarked that we were killing time until it was killing time. There wasn’t anything we could do that we weren’t already doing. The troops were ready. The catapults and ballistae prepared. The ammunition piled up. Fires had been set up to boil oil, and torches were available to light the flammable arrows.
On our way to the wall earlier, Xander had told me that the labyrinth had also been made ready.
“What do you mean?”
“Why would you build a labyrinth unless you meant to use it to fight off invaders?”
“I thought it was just a maze to confuse them. So that they wouldn’t know where to go,” I said.
“No. There are all kinds of traps in there that can be sprung. Spikes, pits, fire. Entrances where doors can be suddenly dropped to containattackers. Archers and shield bearers will line the tops of the walls and rain down destruction on everyone below them.”
The labyrinth was another fail-safe—if the Carians managed to break down a gate or a wall, the Ilionians could withdraw and lead them into death traps.
“I’m glad none of that was used on me,” I said.
“I wouldn’t have let them,” he responded.
The supply train drew ever closer.
“That’s enough rain,” Xander said, and Zalira turned off her aspect and collapsed into Stephanos’s arms.
