Page 159 of Knot Their Soldier: Part Three

I need them to swiftly get over their shock and get back to work. They need to understand that even though we saved Blackreach, the enemy will not stop their attack.

Before, the Humans might've seen the hundreds of souls in this fortress as a minor inconvenience to their plans. The last, futile stand of Demi-humans. Something to be effortlessly swatted away on their march into Blackreach.

Now, we've enraged them, and the Humans are going to make us pay in blood.

"Tell artillery to prepare for the next wave."

Jason pushes his chair closer to the console, sliding his headset back into place, and whatever grief he's experiencing is shoved to the side like a good soldier. "Recalibrate the northern drone. Push the eastern feed to the wall. Advise support team four to move into position."

The stunned soldiers of Jason's communication team slowly drag themselves out of celebration and back into the war.

Jason glances up at me. "You’re going to her now, aren’t you?"

I nod and turn from the screens before Jason can say anything else. The comms room is already moving around me, voices lowering into clipped reports.

By the time I reach the corridor, the fortress is shaking again. The enemy has started shelling Blackgate in earnest once more, and the impacts are landing high enough to bring chunks of the old structure down.

Dust rolls past in a pale sheet, stinging my eyes and catching in the back of my throat. A medic team pushes by with a stretcher, and I flatten myself to the stone to let them pass.

The woman on it is not a soldier. She is a Beta from the laundry, one of the women who keeps this fortress clothed and clean. Blood soaks through the apron still tied around her waist, and gray dust coats her hair where part of the ceiling must have come down on her.

I know her mate. He is probably somewhere below us in the courtyard right now, strapping on armor and preparing to join the team of Beta soldiers who will act as support to the Alpha front line, with no idea his mate is being carried toward Everlyn.

I reach the stairwell.

I take the steps two at a time, one hand skimming the wall when another impact hits lower on the mountain and sends a tremor so strong it cracks the stone under my fingertips.

Blackreach is sealed behind us now, and Blackgate is the only target left. We're about to take the full force of the Human army, and no one in this fortress is safe.

I shove through the battlement door into the pale fallout.

I see them instantly.

Halley stands near the parapet, rigid in full combat kit, staring at the collapse with a blank expression. Knox is three paces from her, radio to his mouth, firing orders at the units still holding the road. While she looks fragile and lost, he looks carved out of iron and ash.

I cross the distance fast.

"Knox."

He turns before I reach him. "Status."

"The collapse was total, but as predicted, they've redirected to Blackgate." I keep my voice clipped and loud enough to cut through the noise. "Thermal picks up multiple regrouping clusters both flanks of the debris field. The next push is coming," I say.

The mountain is still unstable, but the enemy is already probing around the collapse. In classic Human tactics, they take the hit, count the dead, and keep coming.

Knox stares down at me, the scar over his nose stark against his hard features.

He hears what I'm saying. This is the moment. We have to get Halley to the front lines now.

"No. Not yet, we still have time."

A burst of gunfire cracks from the slope below. Someone from the courtyard is shouting for more ammunition to be loaded into a truck and sent down the mountain. Good. They're going to need it. It's hard to process that this is only a vanguard, an advance force before the full enemy army arrives.

Knox is wrong. If we're going to do this, it has to be now before their numbers are too great.

Knox is distracted by another report crackling over the radio. I step past him and approach Halley. She hasn't moved, and her gloves are taut with the force of her grip on the parapet. I catch her wrist and pull her hand free before she grinds her bones to powder.

"Baby girl, look at me."