Lavender Spirit sparked in Bel’s eyes, setting them aglow as he raised his hands and began to weave. The Fey scouts dispatched earlier in the day from the allied camp had sent back images of Orest and its surroundings, and Bel had pieced the images together to create a large, three-dimensional map of Orest.
The city was crawling with Eld, Feraz, and what looked like Sorrelian and Imrhi mercenaries. Hundreds of thousands of them. Throughout Upper and Lower Orest, and lining the north shore of the Heras, batteries of bowcannon were trained on the Faering Mists and the surrounding areas, their barbed missiles glinting evilly in the sunlight.
As the faces of the commanders grew grim, Rain continued, “These last few days have taught me that as much as I value Fey honor and customs, there is something I value more. That something is the safety and survival of the people I love. If protecting my kingdom, my people, and my mate from Elden evil means I must accept aid from unconventional quarters, then so I shall. Farel and his warriors have bloodsworn themselves to Ellysetta. They wish to fight in defense of the Fading Lands and its allies like the Fey warriors they once were, and I shall allow it. And should they perish in that fight, I shall honor their sacrifice no less than I honor the sacrifice of any other warrior of this alliance.”
He gave them a moment for that to sink in, then said, “If there are those among you who do not feel as I do—if you cannot, for whatever reason, allow yourself to fight in the same army that welcomes thesedahl’reisen—then you may leave now. Return to whatever place it is you call home and go with my blessing and my thanks for your service. And I will pray to the gods that you spend the rest of your days in peace and that the evil those of us who remain are about to face will never find its way to your doorstep.”
He looked from one grim face to the next, hoping to impress upon them both the depth of his sincerity and his belief that this was not just the right course to take, but the only course. “Thedahl’reisenand I will excuse ourselves for ten chimes so that you may discuss your concerns openly amongst yourself and make your decision. If you choose to leave, do so before we return. Those who remain, I expect your full commitment and support to all members of this alliance, regardless of what personal feelings you may harbor.”
Rain made his way to the tent entrance and held the flap aside for Farel and his lieutenants to pass through. With a last nod to the Fey and Celierian commanders, he ducked through the opening and let the tent flaps fall back into place.
When Rain returned, he was pleased to see everyone had chosen to stay, though he suspected Bel and Lord Barrial may have had some hand in convincing the others.
“The army is large, by anyone’s estimation,” Rain said as the commanders examined Bel’s three-dimensional weave of Orest, “but with thedahl’reisenjoining us, the Eld are not as insurmountable a force as they would otherwise have been.”
Cann Barrial arched a brow. “No, they just outnumber us at least ten-to-one and have the advantage of holding both high ground and fortified defenses.”
“Mei sorro.”Rain gave a wan smile in acknowledgement of the verbal hit. “But before thedahl’reisenjoined us, we were expecting the odds to be forty-to-one or higher, so ten-to-one is actually good news.” He turned to the map. “We still have our work cut out for us. They’ve bulked up the bowcannon batteries here and here and here.” He pointed to the cliffs circling Upper Orest, the city walls of Lower Orest, and Maiden’s Gate, the fortified series of battlements that stairstepped up the mountainside from Lower to Upper Orest. “These are tairen killers and they need to go.”
“Do we really need to waste lives storming a well-defended city?” Commander Bonn asked. “They can’t go west into the Mists, and the spray from Kiyera’s Veil is poison to them. Why not just pen them in and wait.”
Farel shook his head. “Penning them in won’t work. The Mages can use the Well to come and go at will. And as for Kiyera’s Veil, the Mages have already dammed the Source that feeds it to take the Heras out of play. The northern falls are dry and the river levels have been dropping all day.”
Guilt stabbed Rain. He was the one who’d made the call not to send warriors to Dunelan.“Sha vel’mei.I should have sent troops to protect the Source before leaving for Elvia, but I thought we could dispatch warriors from Orest if there was trouble.”
Bel shook his head. “Don’t berate yourself, Rain. It was the right decision at the time. We thought the Army of Darkness would strike at Kreppes. Any of us would have done the same.”
“Speaking of the Army of Darkness, is anyone besides me still waiting to see it?” Gaelen looked up from the table, where he’d been scanning the three-dimensional Spirit weave with intensity. “I mean, clearly this isn’t it.” He gestured to the Spirit weave of Orest.
“I wouldn’t exactly call it a ragged band,” Eimar replied with an arched brow. “There’s easily half a million blades in the city.”
“Aiyah,”Gaelen agreed, “but this Mage spent decades—possibly centuries—planning for this war, laying the groundwork, infiltrating the north, doing everything possible to drive a wedge between Celieria and the Fading Lands. Do you honestly believe half a million troops was the most he could come up with? We cobbled together close to a hundred thousand in just a few months.”
“Maybe there is no Army of Darkness,” Cann suggested. “Maybe it was just deliberate misinformation leaked to divide our forces and scatter our armies across the continent and make us easier to defeat. If this Mage truly does command such overwhelming numbers, why would he not have unleashed them at Kreppes or Great Bay? It would have ensured an Elden victory. With the King’s Army destroyed, they could have swept through the whole of Celieria in a matter of months.”
“I agree,” Gaelen said.
“One thing my centuries in the Brotherhood taught me was never to underestimate this Mage. He plays to win. He doesn’t bluff and he always has backups for his backups. It would be a mistake for us to believe his Army of Darkness doesn’t exist just because we haven’t seen it yet.”
“I think Kreppes and Great Bay were the diversions, and the Fading Lands has been the target all along,” Rain said. “Think about it. We were holding Orest and keeping the Eld at bay until we captured that Mage and learned about this supposed Army of Darkness. Once we were lured into leaving Orest and dividing our forces, King Dorian was murdered by Sebourne. Prince Dorian nearly drowned when his ship went down in Great Bay. Our forces were winnowed. The Eld took Orest. And Annoura was left surrounded by Mage-claimed courtiers, and would have been claimed herself by the Mage masquerading as her Favorite.” Rain spread his hands. “My guess is the Eld never intended to take Celieria by force. They’ve always intended to conquer it from within, then use it as a base to launch on the Fading Lands.”
“What about Mists?” Eimar interjected. “No invader who ever went into the Mists has ever come out again.”
Rain shrugged. “Maybe they’ve found a way through it using the Well. Maybe they’ve learned how to circumvent its magic. Maybe they have some weapon or magic we haven’t seen yet.” He’d already contacted Sybharukai and asked her to recall half a dozen of the tairen from Orest and have them scout the perimeters of the Faering Mists for any suspicious activity. “All I know is, if they want Orest this badly, we can’t let them keep it.”
“Which brings us back to where we started,” Bel said.
“Aiyah.And our first priority is to take out those bowcannon batteries. Both here on the wall”—Rain pointed to the image of Maiden’s Gate—“and here across the river in Eld.”
“Thedahl’reisenwill take the cannon across the river.” Farel grinned with dark humor. “We’re used to raiding beneath Mage noses.”
“Bas’ka.Then, Cann and Commander Bonn, I’ll need you and your best cannoneers and siege masters marching with the Fey here and here. The Fey will give you cover, while you give the Eld hell.”
“With pleasure,” Cann said.
“What about siege weapons?” Bonn asked. “We left everything behind.”
“Rijonn and the Earth masters will weave them for us like they did at Kreppes.”
