by LJ Rivers
“Cheers.” Jen raked a hand through her hair, which looked surprisingly neat considering the short do. “Years of wearing high heels has given me excellent balance.”
“I bet being a wolf helps,” I said.
“Glad you made it, Red. Seems we missed out on a good fight.” She cleaned her teeth with one long fingernail. I had to remember to ask her how she managed to keep them looking as pristine as she had on Earth. Her cheeks, however, had splotches of red on them.
“You’ve got some—” I pointed to my cheeks.
She rubbed her palms against her face, smearing the jam out.
“Better,” I lied.
“So, Ru, what’s the plan?” Jack asked. “I’m ready to kick some Sorcerer butt.”
“I’d like to wait until everyone is here.”
“B and the others are upstairs already.” Erica crossed her legs and leaned back. “I believe they’ve got a couple of surprises for you.”
“What are we doing down here, then?” I began to stand when Erica took my arm and wagged her finger in my face.
“You need to drink and eat first. I bet you haven’t touched any food all day, and we can’t very well have our queen starving in the face of impending doom.” She snickered. “Anyway, feeding you is our task. Besides, it’ll all be boring chit-chat about weaponry and the size of your forces for a while yet.”
“Which I should be a part of.”
Jack snorted. “Chill, Ru, they’ll give you the numbers, but Erica is right. I was just up there, and it was one giant yawn.”
I settled back in my chair.
“Good girl.”
A young Fae approached our table with a basket full of food. “For Your Majesty.” He inclined his head.
“Thank you.”
The wolves licked their lips, eyeing the basket.
“You want some?”
They waved their hands in a dismissive gesture.
“Nah,” Jen said. “I’ve ordered us something else.”
I giggled. Judging by her face, she had already stuffed some food or other in her gob before I got here. “Very well, if you’re sure.”
The first bite of bread melted in my mouth and sent my stomach into a growling frenzy. I hadn’t realised how hungry I was. I dug into it, chatting with my friends as if we had no cares in the world. We all knew this could be our last time together like this, or at all, though none of us brought it up.
About an hour or so later, my stomach was full, I had greeted most of the people on the first storey of the tavern, and my three wolf friends had finally decided I was fit to go upstairs. Taryn led our group to a door at the end of the second storey, knocked thrice, then showed us inside.
Brendan and Rowan stood shoulder to shoulder, both looking up from behind a table where they had their palms on the edges of an unrolled scroll of parchment. A map, by the looks of it. Pullhelli glanced at me and winked, and next to him, Charlie gave me one of her most dazzling smiles. My heart skipped a beat as I surveyed the room and found a few other familiar faces.
“Elwood?”
The smith from Avalen gave me a lopsided grin, placing his hands on his hips. “My Queen,” he said in that deep voice I remembered. Feeney sat in a chair in a corner, giving me a wave, while another welcoming couple sat next to him.
“Tallaks? And Ygrin?”
“Did you enjoy your meal?” the baker asked.
“So much!”
He huffed a little. “I’m afraid it’s not my best work, as I don’t have access to my bakery here, but it’s the best I could do.”
“It was perfect.”
“We are happy to see you, Your Majesty,” Ygrin chimed in.
I clasped my hands to my chest. “And I you! Thank you. If it wasn’t for your help, I might not have made it this far.”
The Pixie nodded and took Tallaks’s hand.
Brendan gestured for me to approach the table, so I did. “Hey, babe. The wolves take care of you?”
“Practically forced me to eat.”
He wiggled his eyebrows and tilted his head at Jen in appreciation. She smirked, blew on her nails and pretended to shine them on her chest.
“So, where are we?” I asked.
Pullhelli cleared his throat. “Elwood has been of great assistance as far as our weapons of steel are concerned, and the Goblins of Crochan Island have been shipping barrels of different solutions into the village for some time now. The leaves of unsight are an especially welcome addition to our arsenal, though we’ll have to use it with care so that it is not hurtful to our own troops. Charlie was able to make some more of her liquid fire, though that too might be as harmful to us as to our enemy, and it is only a small quantity. We will have to decide how to make the best use of it.” He tapped his fingers on his staff. “Your army is stronger than we could have hoped, though Auberon still outnumbers us about five to one. However, we have more griffins than he does and more Changelings. He has a lot of untrained soldiers, and while our forces may be smaller in numbers, we have only soldiers and predators on our side.” He glanced in Charlie’s direction. “Well, almost.”
Charlie waved her wand around. “I’ve got some tricks up my sleeve, so don’t you worry about me, old man.”
“I have no doubt.” He chuckled. “Now, there are still some tactical decisions to be made, but we are as ready as we’ll ever be. After our queen is fully up to speed, we must all get some rest. We’ll reconvene tomorrow morning.”
There was a rap on the door.
“Come,” Pullhelli said.
The door opened, and Galahad stepped inside, with four other men following behind him. No, not just men, knights, all dressed in the familiar outfits I remembered from Lancelot, Gawain, and Percival, complete with the emblem of a chalice on their hooded cloaks.
“My Queen.” Galahad inclined his head. “At your service. May I introduce my brothers in arms?”
“Please.”
“Meet knights Bedivere, Lamorak, Ector, and Agravain.”
The other knights bowed their heads, and the one named Ector stepped forward.
“Our swords are yours.”
“And our chances of winning this war just went up by several hundred per cent, and then some.” I smiled. “I’m honoured to have you.”
My head was pounding as I stood on the outskirts of the village, staring at the dark plain ahead. Pullhelli had filled my mind with every small and big detail of what was to come, and I wasn’t sure I would remember half of it when it mattered the most. Hopefully, I would remember what I had to, and I was determined to make Morgana proud. The villagers were asleep by now, and while there were soldiers around, they too took turns to rest before the impending battle that would change all our lives forever.
I squeezed my angels’ hands, thankful to have them by my side.
“How are you feeling?” Jen asked.
“Peachy,” I mumbled.
“Yeah.” Charlie nudged me. “Those tossers in black on the other side of the plains won’t know what hit them.” She motioned in the direction of Avalen, where Auberon’s soldiers were surely prepping for what was to come, same as us. “Piece of fudging cake.”
“Fudging cake,” I repeated.
“Actually, I think I’ll write a book about this someday. It’ll be epic.”
I smiled. “Charlotte Carolina Medina Hargraves, author of The Wonderful Tales of Gwyn Fanon. I like it.”
She gave a shaky laugh. “Nah, I think I’ll name it after the headliner of the story. Ruby Morgan—Princess of Shadows, or something to that effect.” She sighed and rested her head on my shoulder. “Are you scared, Ru?”
I sucked in a breath, then let it out. “Terrified.”
“Me too,” Charlie whispered.
“Me three,” Jen chimed in, then turned her nose up. “But you know, there is no better way to go than a hero’s death, and if we die on the battlefield, at least we died for something greater than ourselves.”
“Don’t say that.�
� Charlie let go of my hand and reached around to give Jen a push. “The heroes never die in the fairytales.”
Jen rumpled her hair. “Oh, my sweet little angel, this is no fairytale.”
“Sure it is,” I said. “It’s our fairytale.” I wrapped my arms around them and pulled them close. “I love you both.”
“Me too,” Jen said.
“Me three,” Charlie confirmed.
And that was it, our final night as the angels we had been. Soon, we would leave our angelic cloaks at the door and dress ourselves in the blood of our enemies.
Or die in our own.
Chapter Twenty-Five
All eyes were on me, the girl-turned-queen by virtue of blood, the strongest bond in the realm. Standing by the end of the long wooden table in the dining hall in the former reeve’s castle in Pelles, I could almost hear my own pulse. Surreal didn’t even cover the tip of the iceberg of emotions and thoughts inside me. What had Brendan said the other night, back in Pentrefan Cyll? What a wild ride, Ru! Now there was an understatement, if I had ever heard one.
Taryn, Pullhelli, and Alun sat to my left. Sir Galahad and his father, Sir Lancelot, followed, with Sir Gawain completing the Camelot delegates to my war council. The other four knights had been assigned the task of gathering my army from the campsite south of the village wall.
At the far end, leaning on his elbows, sat Zuwar Gwyll, with Naheena resting against the back of her chair next to him. Fernan the fox and Aderyn the eagle rounded up the Shifters of Talani. My eyes journeyed up the right side of the table, where Jen and her Lune pack sat with Charlie and Rowan, the latter holding hands. Closest to me sat Brendan, with Cynthia to his right, which I was happy to register spurred not an ounce of jealousy in me.
Sixteen people were focused on me, none of whom I had even met by the end of August last year. Now they were ready to fight for my cause. Their expressions ranged from Taryn’s grim, revengeful glare to Galahad’s and Lancelot’s calmer, but equally war-hungry gazes, to Charlie’s warm, encouraging smile.
My war council.
“War is imminent,” I began. No point wasting time on greetings and pleasantries. “It’s only a matter of time before Auberon sends troops to retake Pelles. Commander Taryn’s eagle scouts report that he has assembled three divisions outside the gates of Avalen, comprising more than fifteen thousand soldiers each.”
Nobody said anything, but I caught a couple of sighs without checking from whom.
“Another division, some eight thousand strong, is on its way to South Pew, presumably to prevent Yorath—Sir Galahad’s commander—and his six thousand men to join us. Galahad has sent a squadron of Pixies southward to warn Yorath, but until he and his soldiers arrive, we can’t count on him.”
“He’ll make it,” Galahad said, his voice carrying more hope than confidence, I thought.
“Nevertheless,” I continued, “we have to be prepared to fight with the sixteen thousand we have. Commander Taryn?”
The eagle Shifter stood and put a scroll on the table. He loosened the red silk band and rolled out the map, covering four by six feet of the wooden surface. He leaned down and grasped a leather satchel from the floor and emptied it next to the map. Dozens of stone figures piled up on the table, some azure blue, some crimson, and the rest obsidian-coloured. Taryn picked four blue cubes from the pile and placed them in the corners, securing the parchment from slipping.
“Our best chance is to lead the attack forces towards this pass,” he said. He picked up three black man-shaped pieces and arranged them on the eastern side of the Culach Pass, which ran between the Bryniau Gefell—the Twin Hills. “We deploy a platoon of archers on each side, guarded by Fae.” He placed a crimson figurine of an archer on each side. “The pass is only wide enough for three men at a time. Two, if they are on unicorns.”
“But why would they go through the pass?” I asked, pointing at the map. “It seems they could simply come around the south bend of the Twin Hills.”
“We burn it,” Taryn said. “Lady Carolina?”
Char?
My flatmate from another life moved a handful of blue and crimson war-pieces to an area next to the southernmost of the two mountains. “The manticores and the griffins can carry buckets of liquid fire, pouring it over the plains south and east of the Twin Hills. Then a few strategically placed fireballs at the right moment will force the enemy troops to turn north. The only remaining path is through the pass.”
I smiled approvingly. “Not bad. Who lights the fire?”
Pullhelli cleared his throat. “If young Alun approves, I would very much like to go for a ride through the skies.”
Alun raised his hand in a modern-day army salute to his imaginary beret. “With pleasure, sir.” He moved a few black pieces to the area in question. “But why not pour the liquid fire over the enemy?”
“Easy targets,” Cynthia supplied. “No offence, manticore, but if you’re carrying a heavy bucket like that, I can take you out from two hundred pances. Which means one hundred and fifty for any of Auberon’s archers.”
“Oh, right,” the young manticore said. “Not worth the risk.”
“We all wait behind the pass then, is that the plan?” I asked Taryn.
“Not quite. We have several thousand winged soldiers, which is a tremendous advantage over the usurper’s land-based troops. I suggest we send Captain Cynthia and three archer platoons along the north flank. Their arrows have a further reach than the Sorcerers’ fireballs. Besides, the Sorcerers have to ration their magic, lest they run empty.”
He placed black and red pieces on the map according to the various parts of our defence plan. I had told him before the meeting that I would give him complete authority over our tactics. Anything else would be madness, as I couldn’t even devise a plausible attack plan on a Chinese checkers board back home in Chester.
“The wolves and foxes will be our first line of defence on the other side of the pass. Zuwar’s pack here, and Naheena and Fernan here.” Taryn marked their respective spots with two red wolves and a red fox. “Swordmaster Brendan will stay here,” Taryn placed three red figures next to a bridge, “by Queen’s Crossing. Any enemy troops that make it through our lines by the pass will be yours for the taking.”
“We’ll be ready,” Brendan replied.
It looked like a solid plan to me. I motioned at the north side of the city of Pelles. “Morien commands thirty ships, all manned with archers and spearmen,” I said. “Auberon might try to take the Port of Pelles, but Morien has assured me he will not allow it. Let’s hope he’s a man of his word.”
Galahad jutted his chest out. “He has never broken it before.”
“Then there’s the matter of you,” Taryn said, “and where we can keep you safe during the battle.”
I flinched. “Me? What do you mean?”
“You can’t fight,” Brendan said quietly.
“You’re joking? Of course I’ll fight.”
“No,” Taryn said. “You’re too valuable. We can’t risk you falling for a stray arrow or a poisoned sword, Highness.”
I couldn’t believe my ears. “This is preposterous! And I won’t have it!” I slammed my fists on the table so hard several of the war symbols toppled over. “If you think for one second I’m going to send thousands of men and women out there to die in my name while I sit quietly in my castle, you’re dead wrong.”
“Nevertheless, My Queen,” Taryn said calmly but firmly, “that is how it must be. If you fall, we have lost.”
I glared at him, gnashing my teeth. Tendrils of smoke rose from where my fists rested on the table. “I am your queen, and my command is yours to follow, Taryn!”
“So punish me after the battle is won. At the moment, you have given me full authority, and my word is the only word that counts in this matter.”
“He’s right, Ru,” Brendan tried, reaching for my hand.
I recoiled, not because of my still-glowing fire magic, but because I didn’t want him to com
fort me. I wasn’t in a state of mind where I needed comfort. I was furious and made no effort to hide it.
“You—you can’t,” I said through gritted teeth. “You can’t do this to me.” I took a deep breath and tried to calm down. I had to reason with my Master of War. “Listen to me, Taryn. Morgana fought alongside you in Y Noson Hir. She would never have accepted anything else. Does that not mean anything to you?”
“With all due respect,” he replied, “that proves my point to the fullest. She died in battle. And I am not doing it to you, Your Majesty. I am doing it for the people who need you after the battle is won.”
“So you’re going to lock me up if I refuse, is that it?”
He gave a small shake of his head. “I don’t think that will be necessary. When you have had time to think about this, I am certain you will come to the same conclusion.”
Not necessary. Which meant he would, if I objected. There was only one thing left for me to do.
I held up my palms and called my fire back inside. The smell of burnt wood filled the air, and I slumped back in my chair with a deep sigh.
“Fine, I’ll stay behind,” I lied.
“Thank—”
Taryn’s words were cut off by a crashing sound behind him. A creature had burst through the wooden bars in one of the two windows. Brendan jumped to his feet and moved swiftly over, pointing his unsheathed sword at the creature.
“—a message,” it gasped. Its feathered head had turned halfway into a human’s, and the wings were vanishing inside his skin before our eyes.
“An eagle Changeling,” Charlie said. “He’s hurt!”
She was right. A trail of blood was drawn on the dark wooden floor where the now fully transformed Shifter had slid.
I hurried to him. “Make room.” Pushing Brendan aside, I dropped to my knees and put my hands on the Shifter’s back. My healing magic flowed through me, bursting into him and spreading under his skin like fire through dry grass. It didn’t take long before he started turning over on his side.
