“Oh, so nothing major to worry about then,” Alastor says, making Harman’s lips twitch.
“He thinks it will be enough for him to conquer Tiearland,” Sophos says, ignoring Alastor’s sarcasm. “And that’s his mission. After that, he believes he will ascend to the Eternal Realm.”
Harman shakes his head. “It’s insane.”
“I agree,” Sophos says. “Not that it really matters, if our goal is to stop him long before he gets a chance to find out how deranged his ideas are. The realm of the gods isn’t open to anyone with enough power in their hands and greed in their hearts.”
“You’re sure about that?” I ask.
Sophos tilts his long neck, thinking. He’s clever enough to have risen through—and survived—the ranks of the Temple. He alsobelieves in the gods, deeply. He must have spent some time pondering this question.
“I think brute strength, invulnerability, and power cannot be the only things that divide people from the gods,” he says. “Truedivine power is the ability to give life and create from nothingness. The Grand Bearer has never expressed any interest in those.”
Because he only wants to kill and destroy, I think to myself. If that’s the only limit on the godlike powers Caledon will gain, it’s not much of a silver lining.
“If Caledon finds the cup, he will be practically unstoppable,” I say. “So we need to prevent him invading Agathyre.”
“His forces have been mobilizing longer than ours, Your Majesty,” General Becane points out. “And most of the Temple’s so-called soldiers are already closer to the Agathyrian border than us to begin with.”
“Then we must move quickly,” I say. “And if we’re too late, we must do our best to drive them out of Agathyre before they can make real progress. Harman, what about the Hand?”
“Those who are willing to fight will meet us at the border,” Harman says. “I have my spies watching. They should be able to warn us if Caledon breaches the Miravow.”
“We have our own spies who can do that,” General Becane says, his chin twitching. The two men stare at each other, and I sense I might have a battle for territory on my hands.
“I’m sure we do, General,” I say. “But the Hand’s spies are longtime experts at avoiding Temple detection. Whereas, as faras I know, your intelligence networks have been happily working alongside the Temple under Oclanna’s reign. Am I wrong?”
The general’s mouth drops.
“We had to obey the queen’s orders,” Lieutenant Vostani points out, defending her superior. “No matter how counterproductive they seemed.”
“And I am queen now,” I say. “And I’m ordering you to workwiththe Hand’s intelligence contacts so we’re all on the same page. Does that seem possible?”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” the general agrees as Harman also murmurs his assent. Will gives me a proud smile from over the general’s shoulder. It’s the same expression he’d make whenever I managed a clever move in chess.
My eyes fall to the map, and worry creeps back over me. We can make all these plans and even then be doomed before we begin.
“What’s wrong, my love?”Leon asks, sensing my fear.
“Caledon could still have taken Starfall before all our forces reach Agathyre,”I reply.
“Trova isn’t the only nation to share a border with the dryads,”Leon points out.
I meet his gaze.“Do you think we could ask him?”
“He swore to be your ally, Ana. He knows you wouldn’t drag us into this war if it wasn’t necessary.”
“We’ll also send a message to King Fairon, asking Filusia for aid,” I say.
General Becane looks to Leon. “Will he agree?”
“After Agathyre and Trova, my brother is well aware that Filusia will be next on Caledon’s list. He’ll agree, alright,” he says firmly.
Becane and Vostani hurry off to relay messages to their forces, while Leon goes to compose the message to Fairon. Meanwhile, the rest of us rush to finish our preparations. We must leave Elmere today, then we still have about two weeks of travel ahead of us.
And when we get there, the real battle will begin. If we can combine our forces, and if we can arrive in time, then we stand a good shot. Our soldiers outnumber the Temple’s forces, even if they have cleavers and other twin-blessed clerics on their side.
But I’m still no match for Caledon.
