“Roughly eighty thousand,” he whispered back.
Yeah… that many on Valnea’s side would completely crush us, whereas that many on our side would definitely give us a strong advantage.
After that, there was a lot of talk about terrain and defenses. I paid attention as best I could, but I wasn’t a tactician. I got the impression that despite us fighting on our “home turf,” it wouldn’t be a significant advantage. Especially with the forces against us coming in from all sides.
Then it came time for Bayn to speak. Everyone looked to him for an update on the titans and which side they’d be joining.
I stepped forward, saving the man from the shame of reporting his failure.
“Our initial foray into negotiations with the titans didn’t go as planned.” I figured that was the most diplomatic way to say: we failed to get the titans. “However, Bayn and I will be returning to their lands tomorrow to try again. Any and all suggestions for ways to sway them to our cause, are welcome.”
There, now I’d thrown responsibility onto everyone else to help us brainstorm how to do this.
It was Grandma Oli, who spoke first. Even here and now, in a dead-serious war council, she couldn’t be bothered to wear something modest. She was poured into skintight black leather pants and nearly bursting out of a cropped black halter top.
“Bayn, could you not challenge your father for the throne?” she asked.
He grumbled. “That… may be our only option now.” He gave me a sidelong glance filled with… something, I couldn’t saywhat, maybehope? Though there seemed to be a fair amount of concern and resistance mixed in. “The problem with that is two-fold. First, in our culture those who are challenged set the time, and it can be up to a week away, which would be cutting things close. Second, winning… may not be enough. I would almost certainly receive other challenges the instant I take the throne. The only way I can think to stop that… would be to have a quick and overwhelming victory over my parents, which…” he shrugged, “…honestly isn’t likely. They are as strong as I am.”
Oh…
That look made a lot more sense now. He’d been wondering if I’d help him. He didn’t know if he could trust me to fight beside him though.
Maybe it was time to show him I wasn’t going to betray him.
“Could I fight with you… as your queen?”
It was so quick I nearly missed it, but the flash of a smile over those hard lips gave me my answer.
“Yes, that could work,” he replied slowly, carefully. “Together we could take them, I’m certain. The only question would be, whether our victory would be overwhelming enough to quell any others from challenging me… us.”
My turn to smile. That little word at the end, “us,” meant a lot to me and I wanted him to see it.
Bayn nodded, acknowledging my smile, then turned back to the others. “This is probably our best chance. Even so, some titans still may not follow me if they’ve been poisoned by Valnea’s lies.”
Lhorine, who was clearly the one in charge of this meeting, nodded. “Proceed with that plan and… be careful. We need both of you back in one piece. Our strategy hinges on Izzy being alive and well for this fight.”
Oh… did it?
“And what is our strategy, exactly?” I asked with a fake smile.
“Cut the head off the snake,” Oli responded. “You and an elite team—” which I took to mean my guys, since they’d never let me fight on my own, “—will face Valnea directly. The hope being once she’s dead, the rest of her force will see no reason to keep fighting.”
There were nods all around.
I mean… okay, sure, I was probably the strongest one in this room, and hopefully stronger than Valnea, but still… sending me into the heart of the enemy camp?
“I may need more than my… elite team,” I said, hopefully the guys didn’t take any offence to that. “As I’m assuming Valnea will have a lot of guards around her.”
Lhorine smiled. “Your team will be the ones facing the false queen directly, while a strike force will distract those around her.”
Thank heavens.
“But,” Olinara added, giving me a stern look, “the survival of that strike force depends on you, Izzy.”
Sorry, what now?
My grandmother explained. “They will be keeping away many times their number in Valnea’s forces, especially as word gets out that you’re attacking their queen. The longer you take to defeat Valnea, the more of them will die.”
