Five minutes. If all goes the way it should, Finley and Maston should be able to land on the other side of the slope. Then they can make their way on foot, getting right where they need to be.
Hopefully, without being spotted.
Because if the fae see them, if they’re shot down before they can get into position…
“Don’t,” Lu mutters on her timberwing beside me. I look over and meet her gaze. “They’ll do it.”
Theyhaveto.
If they can’t, we don’t have a fucking chance.
CHAPTER 26
COMMANDER RYATT
The anxiety between the sixof us is palpable, like a thick presence that closes in around us. Because just like Isalee asked me, how can so few possibly stand against so many?
The truthful answer is, we can’t.
Not numbers against numbers. Not sword against sword.
But wedohave the upper hand with one single thing: We know this land.Iknow this land.
The fae have no idea how many times I’ve come to Cliffhelm pretending to be Rip as I ran training sessions. No idea how many times I’ve flown across this very border and gone straight to Deadwell to visit my mother and the other villagers.
I know everything there is to know about this strip of land between Fourth and Fifth. And while it may look like a vast, empty stretch of snow and ice, it hides a sinister secret.
I keep counting down the time in my head—two minutes already passed. Lu and I share a look. I know she’s as tense as I am, but she’s as stoic as ever. She always ensures her strength bleeds into the soldiers she leads. It’s one of the reasons she’s such a good captain.
“Gideon, send Captain Osrik the signal.”
The bulky soldier grabs hold of a thick, twisted iron branch beside him. This tree is the tallest out of all of them, and a couple of days ago, we attached a strip of metal and glass at the top. Even in the dreary daylight, it’s enough to cast a reflection for Osrik to see at the wall.
Gideon makes the iron shake back and forth, and even from the ground, I can see the reflection that the metal and glass casts off. After a few more seconds, he stops, just as there’s the slightest tremble that travels through the ground.
An inhale sucks in, and my eyes fly to Lu’s.
The plan is working.
My adrenaline spikes just as a wicked grin spreads over Lu’s face. Every single one of us tightens like a coil. Ready to spring.
Now, it’s time to reveal ourselves and hope like hell we can draw the fae toward us.
“Roland?” I call, looking over at the brawny soldier with deep gray eyes.
“On it, Commander.”
He unbuckles from the saddle and jumps off, landing in the snow shin-deep. Then he leans over, reaches for his shadow on the ground, and yanks it up. Like it’s a physical entity instead of just blocked light.
We all watch as he shakes it out like a fucking blanket and then starts ripping it apart and tossing it into the air.
Varg picks at his teeth, watching the shadow fragments as they stretch and flatten. When Roland stops tearing it into pieces, they build and ripple, until he’s made a good five dozen shadow figures that resemble his own silhouette. When he moves, they move.
“That’s really fuckin’ creepy, mate,” Gideon tells him.
Roland smirks and looks over at me. “I think that’ll do it.”
“Alright,” I say. “Then let’s lure a fucking army.”
