“I thought hewasmetal-forged.”
“He is but—” Iryana hesitated. There was only one thing that made sense, but it was impossible.
“But what, Iryana?” her grandmother asked, voice strained.
“I think he is double-forged.”
The First narrowed her eyes, and the others gasped.
“That’s impossible,” Hadima said loudly.
“Are we sure?” Nenad asked, looking at his wife.
Jesha frowned. “I don’t know anyone who’s tried, but I’ve heard the stories.”
“There was someone from the city I grew up in who tried,” Vesima cut in. “They died horribly.”
The tent was quiet.
“There must be a way then,” Iryana whispered, mostly to herself.
“What if we can blow a hole through their wall? They’ll have to leave without a barrier against the dakii. That might make it easier to get our people back,” one of the brigade leaders suggested.
“They’d just kill the prisoners then,” Nenad reasoned.
One by one, ideas were thrown out and quickly shot back down.
Iryana turned toward her sister, ignoring the others.
“He should have been weak to fire, but he wasn’t. And he broke through my forging,” Iryana said quietly.
“So you think he was fire-forged as well?”
“He’d have to be. His forgings were so dark, so full of well-magic. It’s possible it wasn’t all metal-magic, but fire too.”
“Can you forge something in two wells at once?”
“Perhaps if the wells were next to each other?” Iryana mused. “Or if you reforged something in another well? Added a second magic to it? I don’t know.”
“We don’t have time to figure all that out, if it’s even possible.”
But it was all Iryana could think about.
They didn’t have the numbers to make another frontal assault, and trying to break them out was too risky. Challenging Karvek directly made the most sense, but it would have to be someone in a position to make that challenge. He would have to be goaded into it. And who could fight him if he was double-forged?
The attack they’d planned had failed.Herplan had failed. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t save them now.
“It would have to be water.”
“What?” Hadima stilled.
“I have some raw magic left. If I forge it in a water well, I might be able to defeat Karvek.” Her voice grew louder with every word. It felt right, like she had a chance at saving her people for the first time. Sure, the doubts and fears were there, reaching out to try to poison the idea, but she gave them no power.
“You want to try double-forging?” One leader asked in disbelief, turning toward her.
“Water is powerful against metal and weakens fire. It’s the only choice.”
“Iryana, it could get you killed!” Hadima cried. “I’m water forged already; I can do it.”
